Page 4476 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 18 October 2011
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tackle tobacco use by Indigenous Canberrans, as well as programs designed to improve health outcomes for older people affected by alcohol abuse, and children affected by drugs.
These and other targeted programs grew out of Dr Pete’s belief that health care—accessible and culturally appropriate health care—is a basic right of everyone in our community. It is a belief that did not start and finish with Dr Pete. Such a belief is at the heart of Winnunga’s approach to health care, from its programs to encourage young Indigenous women to access antenatal care, through to its dental services, or its efforts to reduce the incidence of smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
But we all know that, whatever the original philosophy of a place, positive cultures within organisations need to be preserved and strengthened over time by individuals. Dr Pete was an individual who helped strengthen the ethos of Winnunga Nimmityjah, who helped make it a health service that is respected locally and nationally, and a service that is watched and emulated by others.
Thanks to Dr Pete, Winnunga is also a health service that plays a crucial role in equipping this country’s up-and-coming doctors with the special skills they need in order to successfully provide culturally appropriate care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
From 1998, when Winnunga became an accredited training facility for registrars, Dr Pete dedicated his time and expertise to training new doctors. More recently, Winnunga extended training opportunities to local medical students, helping ensure that new generations of doctors, wherever they ended up practising, better understood the complexities of Indigenous health.
Dr Pete was philosophically committed to the idea that dedicated Indigenous health centres must be managed and controlled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities themselves. It is a mark of his qualities as a man and as a doctor that he was embraced so warmly and with such respect by the Indigenous communities he spent his career serving.
In 2004 he became the first non-Indigenous person to receive a NAIDOC award for his commitment to Aboriginal health. In 2011 he was recognised by NAIDOC again, this time with its community spirit award. His professional peers also acknowledged his expertise and excellence. He served on the local AMA board and was awarded the ACT AMA President’s award for outstanding contribution.
The broader Canberra community also recognised his great qualities and his contribution to our city when in 2008 he took out the local hero award in the ACT Australian of the Year awards. In 2010 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to Indigenous health and for his clinical, teaching and administrative work at Winnunga.
The loss of such a man will be felt widely and deeply. I acknowledge today the grief and the great personal and practical loss being felt by Dr Pete’s colleagues at Winnunga Nimmityjah. Many of them have joined us here in the Assembly today.
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