The causes for distress in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities leading to youth suicide are broad and steeped in historical, social and economic circumstances, as well as the contemporary choices of individuals, writes professor Pat Dudgeon, one of the “founding” people in indigenous psychology.
Indigenous health
‘Legally invisible’: law reform matters for Aboriginal health
Australia is one nation, yet its federal structure and Constitution have not encouraged laws creating a clear governance structure for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, explains a team of experts on Croakey.
Caring for country is also good for Aboriginal people
Aboriginal people have jurisdiction over roughly 20 percent of the country. It was hoped that such expansive land ownership would lead to successful agriculture and advance the economic wellbeing of Aboriginal Australians, writes Bradley Smith.
Aboriginal crime and punishment: spending on jails but not outcomes
The rise of a punitive “law and order” culture in Australia has had a profoundly racial dimension, manifested in soaring rates of indigenous incarceration. Inga Ting continues her special report.
The media release the minister should’ve written on the NT Intervention
Here is a draft alternative media release for Jenny Macklin — what she should have said as a response to the current consultation rather than harping on about truancy and grog.
A guide to researching Indigenous health
This week the Lowitja Institute released a new guide developed to provide resources and advice for conducting health research in Indigenous communities. Crikey’s health blog Croakey explains what the guide achieves and why it is needed.
Warren Snowdon responds to concerns about report on dialysis
Warren Snowdon, Minister for Indigenous Health, responds to concerns raised on Croakey about the Federal Government’s handling of a report on dialysis in Central Australia.
How to improve Indigenous patients’ access to medicines
For years it’s been a struggle for indigenous patients in remote communities to access PBS medicines, but efforts are finally being made to improve this significant underuse of the scheme. Dr Noel Hayman outlines the initiative.
Federal Health Department silos a critical barrier to Aboriginal health reform
There was virtually no mention of Aboriginal health in the Federal Government’s major policy announcements on health and hospital reform, despite the fact that over half a million Australians receive comprehensive primary health care through such services, writes Garrie Gibson.
Violence in indigenous communities: tolerated and not disclosed
In some Australian Indigenous communities violence is so widespread there is an expectation that it is inevitable and is something to be tolerated and not disclosed, reads the grim conclusion to an Australian Institute of Criminology paper released this week, reports Richard Farmer.
At last, a national suicide prevention strategy for Indigenous Australians
The Federal Government has released its response to the Senate committee’s report, The Hidden Toll: Suicide In Australia. The establishment of a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy is a critical step to reducing the risk and community impact of suicide around parts of Australia, writes Rachel Siewert.
Cancer and Indigenous health: the pitfalls of assumption-based policy
Why is there so little policy attention to the toll that cancer takes upon Indigenous Australians? Perhaps, as Daniel Vujcich explains, policy is being based on assumptions rather than the evidence.
Does Macklin’s office have no shame?
Jenny Macklin’s dismissal of a review that has found income management is not making an impact on tobacco and healthy food sales in remote NT communities is an insult to the Government’s professed commitment to “evidence-based policy”, writes Melissa Sweet.
Income management evidence trivialised in a lemonade solution
Jenny Macklin’s response to the latest evidence that Income Management doesn’t work is only the latest example of anti-evidence based decisions in the welfare system, writes Eva Cox
Macklin’s twists truth on income management
Jenny Macklin has dismissed a new study revealing the government’s income management policy is not making an impact on tobacco and health food sales in indigenous communities. The study’s authors hit back.
Has Indigenous health reform been dropped?
A “radical change” in the organisation of health care for Indigenous Australians was one of the highest priority recommendations from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, but the government appears intent on ignoring it, reports Melissa Sweet.
Federal NT intervention will cause more harm than good: new report
The Intervention into indigenous communities in the NT — started by the Howard government and continued under Rudd’s watch — is likely to cause more health problems than it fixes, says a damning health report, writes Melissa Sweet.
Aboriginal Australia: like the poorest of Africa, says Amnesty chief
The Secretary General of Amnesty International has likened conditions in Central Australia to the poorest parts of Africa and Asia, and described the gap between rich and poor in this country as the most stark she’s even seen.
Travel tips for media on the Close the Gap bus
In a lecture for Reconciliation Australia, Koori Mai Editor Kirstie Parker talks about the role that Australia’s media can play in helping to Close the Gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
After the NT intervention: violence up, malnutrition up, truancy up
The latest, and arguably most comprehensive findings, on progress in the Northern Territory intervention are damning of its effectiveness and extremely disappointing, says Jon Altman.
Deconstructing swine flu: 12 things you didn’t know
You might be over the swine flue jokes, but Associate Professor Heath Kelly offers 12 things you may not know about the swine flu pandemic. How serious has the pandemic been?
Is it helpful to think about closing the gap as an economic, rather than ethical, issue?
The question of how much to pay for “closing the gap” in Aboriginal health ought to be debated more on ethical lines than on economic lines — but the two inevitably intersect, writes Professor Gavin Mooney.
Crikey Says: We really are the lucky country, but…
Alright, we’ll admit it. Politicians have done a fairly decent job of running the nation for the last 20 years. However, climate change failings won’t be easily forgiven.
Indigenous smoking is finally out of the too-hard-basket
The federal government has put tackling high smoking rates amongst Indigenous people at the centre of its plans to “close the gap”, writes David Thomas.
A National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Authority: can it help?
A proposed Indigenous health authority would act as a third-party payer for health care for Indigenous Australians. But would it work? asks Professor Judith Dwyer and Stephanie Bell.
