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An 'intolerable' sickness

Tony Stephens.

21 February 2004 - A new indigenous health initiative might have been more appropriately launched this week in Redfern than at Government House but the Governor, Marie Bashir, pointed out that Aborigines were among the healthiest people in the world when the first governor stepped ashore down the hill.

Now indigenous Australians are among the world's unhealthiest - Phil Glendenning, the president of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, said that an Aboriginal child born in Brewarrina faced a shorter lifespan than one born in Third World Bangladesh.

Dr Lisa Jackson Pulver, of the University of NSW School of Public Health, said that Aboriginal men had lower life expectancies today than white men in 1901; Aboriginal women's life expectancy was lower than that of white women in 1910.

The Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson, said there were 20 or 30 Redferns across Australia where communities suffered deep anxiety and felt alienated, leading to drunkenness, violence and destruction. The problem was that people looked at effect, not cause. He said the riot on Sunday confirmed that Australia had failed to address the underlying problems.

Speaking at the launch of a health rights campaign, Dodson said he had attended seven funerals already this year. He said 56 people needed dialysis in Kununurra, in the Kimberley, but there was no dialysis machine in town.

"Nowhere else in Australia would people put up with this nonsense," he said. "This is not simply a medical emergency. It stems from a broader denial of rights.

"Canada, New Zealand and the US have significantly improved the health of their indigenous peoples over the last 25 years. Treaties with indigenous peoples and a closer relationship with federal governments have delivered better resources and more co-ordinated action."

Calling for similar agreements in Australia, he said health must be linked to integrated strategies in education, housing and a broader recognition of Aboriginal Australians in the life of the nation.

"We are in a worse state of health than before practical reconciliation, the mantra of the present Government," Dodson said. "This is supposed to be the lucky country, one of the strongest economies. Where's the money going? "

Bill Glasson, the president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), said it was time to stop navel-gazing and quibbling over costs: "We are here to make a commitment that we will no longer tolerate the intolerable."

Commissioned by the AMA to estimate the additional funding required to achieve equitable health outcomes for indigenous Australians, Professor John Deeble put the figure at $300 million a year - 0.5 per cent of the health budget.

The Governor said she had grown up in the Riverina, learning of the rich Aboriginal culture, their strong family ties and the devastating effect of colonisation. The trauma of loss could be transmitted over generations.

"This week, with the death of an adolescent, a whole community is plunged once again into grief and despair," she said.

But she looked for the bright side. Good spirits existed at Government House. Governor Phillip had written to the colonial secretary hoping that settlers and Aborigines could be reconciled. Now the number of indigenous nursing and medical graduates was growing. And the health rights campaign brought new hope.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

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