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Govts accused of ignoring Indigenous health crisis

11 December 2006 - More than 30 of Australia's key medical and social welfare groups say Indigenous Australians are dying because of a lack of political will and action.

The groups have paid close to $40,000 to publish in a national newspaper an open letter to the federal, state and territory governments, asking them to put more money into Indigenous health immediately.

Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, Tom Calma, says an extra $300 million per year would stop Indigenous people dying an average of 17 years earlier than other Australians.

He says governments also need to commit to measurable targets.

"Targets make people accountable and make governments accountable and that's what needs to happen," he said.

Mr Calma says governments need to commit to raising Indigenous life expectancy to normal levels within 25 years.

"Government is not really listening to what Aboriginal people and the medical profession are saying," he said.

"We need to be able to get the Government to start to focus a lot more to setting some fairly realistic and achievable targets and benchmarks and time frames."

The Red Cross, Amnesty International and Ian Thorpe's Fountain for Youth have signed the document.
The groups say it is inconceivable that a country as wealthy as Australia cannot solve a health crisis affecting less than 3 per cent of the population.

John Paterson from the Northern Territory's peak aboriginal medical organisation, AMSANT, says there is no mystery about what is needed.

"Give us the money tomorrow," he said.

"We're in the position to go and recruit GPs and other clinicians that Indigenous communities are currently screaming out for."

Govt response

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbot says the Government is trying.

"I hope no one thinks that Indigenous health outcomes are a function of governmental neglect," he said.
Mr Abbott says he respects the idealism behind the open letter, but he is not going to commit to the kind of target it is recommending.

"If it was as easy as all that to improve Indigenous health it would have been done a long time ago," he said.

"But certainly it doesn't hurt to have a whole lot of prominent people reminding us of the urgency of this task."

Mr Abbott says Indigenous people do not have poor health just because they are Indigenous.
"It's a function of Indigenous people having significantly higher levels of unemployment, significantly poorer housing and the fact that many of them live in very, very remote locations which are extremely difficult to services," he said.

Source:ABC

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