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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (17 February) . . Page.. 236 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

There is also an interest in the involvement of the community in policy development. I am sure that this would be something that people would be interested in discussing with the committee. The last framework agreement on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health between the ACT, the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was developed in consultation with indigenous people. It will be interesting to look at how that worked and whether it was satisfactory to people. I understand that the next framework is to be renewed in June this year. Maybe the Minister for Health can confirm this.

The committee could also obviously be interested in looking at the processes of involvement of the indigenous community in this policy discussion. I am delighted that I have general Assembly support for this motion. I think it is something that we all know is an important issue and I look forward to seeing how the Committee for Health and Community Care works with this issue. I am sure that it will be a very positive exercise.

MR WOOD (11.20): Mr Speaker, in requiring us to consider ways of improving the health of Aborigines and Islanders, the committee that I chair is being given a most difficult task, a task that governments around Australia have not been able to deal with successfully. However, it is an important task and it should be attempted. The State of the Territory Report compares statistics on the state of indigenous health between the ACT and Australia in general. The nature of the indigenous population in the ACT is supposedly different from other parts of Australia. Or is it?

Most comments suggest that Aborigines and Islanders in the ACT are more middle-class and better educated than in other parts of Australia, but I do not know. Perhaps we should get a picture of that population. It could be relevant. No doubt, we will seek information on the illnesses that impact on Aborigines and Islanders more than on the general population. No doubt, we will see what specific facilities are provided and hear what ought to be provided. No doubt, we will examine how well general health facilities respond to needs.

However, my greatest concern is that this standard information collection may not be of great assistance to the committee. Indeed, we could spend a great deal of time in areas of little importance. Of course, it has to be done, but is it not more important to look very deeply at the problem? Is it not likely that the problems with indigenous health are related directly to more fundamental factors that may be common to that population here, as well as their kin around Australia? Is not the spirit of a people important? What is the impact of alienation, of years of disappointments and frustrations, of dismissal, and of struggle and strife?

Are not the health problems we have to deal with caused by the same factors that see a disproportionate number of Aborigines held in Quamby? The danger is that the committee will come up with bandaid recommendations, important as they may be. The nation has been dealing with the issue of reconciliation for some years now and the outcome is far from settled. I suggest that a response that is agreed by Aborigines and Islanders with Australians generally may well be a necessary factor in improving the health of our original population. The Assembly is giving the committee a difficult task.

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