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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 7 Hansard (6 June) . . Page.. 2039 ..

MS MacDONALD (continuing):

As I mentioned previously, success will come through empowerment. The ACT government's assistance with rent and medical staff within a cultural context is welcome and obviously needed. More services are needed and better premises for Winnunga are now needed. In many ways the very success of the centre has placed strains on it.

The provision of services which incorporate cultural needs and understanding is not a new approach by any means. Youth community centres, women's services and even the Melbourne Club all meet the needs of their clientele by creating an atmosphere specific to a demographic, gender or community group. The Aboriginal Health Service is a logical extension of such an approach and its success has had an immediate impact on ACT indigenous health.

I look forward to the Chief Minister outlining his commitment to Winnunga and Aboriginal health services generally. A greater range of services are needed, all with continued emphasis on working with indigenous cultural needs. While the Ngunnawal Aboriginal Corporation are providing services to elderly indigenous people, I would like to see more indigenous-run programs and services. Why, then, do I keep emphasising cultural understanding in indigenous specific services? Quite simply because it gets results. Tackling mental health issues leads to progress on substance abuse, and the education of indigenous people by indigenous people can assist in preventing heart disease, diabetes and infectious diseases.

Educating the broader community is always difficult, and it seems that this is also true of indigenous people. Many people are unaware of existing services, and there seems to be a stumbling block in access to information for indigenous people who are prepared to initiate treatment for themselves. Efforts to improve this aspect of indigenous health are obviously needed and can be made reasonably easily.

An injection of funding for an education campaign about available services invariably leads to better utilisation of those services. While an influx of service users places strains on funding, I think all in the Assembly would acknowledge the truism that prevention is better than cure. Certainly, as far as indigenous health is concerned, prevention is cheaper than cure.

The problems affecting the indigenous population are best handled nationally, and recognising their removal from their culture, family and traditional aspects of belonging to a people and race is the first step. Bringing them home recognises what psychologists and sociologists have always known. When you rob people of an identity and when they are disempowered, their health, sense of belonging and ability to fit into what we tag "mainstream society" are severely diminished.

Indigenous people are overrepresented in the prison system and in substance abuse programs. The health and social problems we see today and need to start treating seriously are a direct result of 200 years of mistreatment, failed government policy and failure by the European community to recognise the importance of Aboriginal culture to Aboriginal health-hence the great disappointment in our Prime Minister and those of his team who have chosen to let positive opportunities slip through their fingers.

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