Page 1274 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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I am not even sure that they understand the true meaning of and the concept behind self-determination. They do not listen to Indigenous people or invest in a way that reflects this concept. They try to tell them what is best for their lives and they try to deliver mainstream solutions that have been proven not to work.
Today I want to speak about the particular challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of the ACT when it comes to mental health and the failures of this government, and in particular this minister, when it comes to supporting good mental health and providing culturally appropriate solutions.
I do not want to spend too much time dwelling on statistics, as I think we in this place understand how bad things are here in the ACT. But they help to set the scene and demonstrate the failures of this government, so I will address a few of the key areas in order to give a background to this debate.
Mental health statistics show that Indigenous Australians are much more likely to suffer from depression or dementia than non-Indigenous Australians. Overall, Indigenous Australians experience consistently poorer health outcomes for their entire lives than non-Indigenous Australians. They experience poorer social and emotional wellbeing outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians. More than 30 per cent of Aboriginal people experience some sort of psychological distress. The figure for non-Indigenous Australians is 20 per cent.
This distress is often multilayered and can be linked to many factors. Suicide rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to highlight the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals that the Indigenous suicide rate is twice that of the broader community.
Importantly, Indigenous Australians do not necessarily experience mental health issues such as suicide for the same reasons as non-Indigenous Australians. It makes sense that Indigenous people require culturally appropriate services—services like the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services provide, with groups like their wellbeing group and men’s and women’s groups. These are so important to bring people together and to get people talking about mental health and wellbeing. Winnunga try to treat the whole person rather than just bandaiding the obviously broken bits and pieces, but they want to do so much more.
Of course, there is the amazing support given by Gugan Gulwan to families, parents and young people. They focus on reconnecting community to culture and to each other. Again, if Gugan only had the facilities and the support needed, they could meet the demand and grow their services to meet the needs of their people.
This government’s programs need to take a long-term view rather than quick start-and-stop programs. They need to stop providing narrow-focused and inadequate mental health services. It makes sense that providing mental health outcomes will have a flow-on effect to other areas, including reducing high incarceration and substance abuse rates.
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