Tag: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
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Rachel Fishlock on increasing First Nations’ leadership across Australia’s mental health system
PHAA We know that collaborations between the public health and mental health sectors are vital to bridge the gap between what works and what’s happening in practice and policy. One effort toward that is the inaugural Preventive Mental Health Symposium, which will be held in Melbourne and online on Tuesday…
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An election on health lacking vision beyond hospitals: why Victoria must invest in Public Health and prevention
PHAA Victoria Prevention Subcommittee The PHAA’s Victorian branch, in partnership with the Australian Health Promotion Association and Australasian Epidemiological Association, have released their 2022 Victorian Election Scorecard. This assesses the policy platforms of the major parties – Labor, the Coalition (Liberal/National) and the Greens – against our joint Election Platform, which…
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‘Dispelling the smoke to reflect the mirror’: the time is now to eliminate tobacco related harms
Helen Tran, PHAA Intern A recently published commentary by Maddox et al in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health highlights the opportunity that has presented itself for a “smoke free future” and nicotine free generations. A future which is looking more possible with Australia’s recent Consultation Draft…
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Rather than focusing on the negative, we need a strength-based way to approach First Nations childrens’ health
Jennifer Browne, Deakin University; Jill Gallagher, Indigenous Knowledge; Joleen Ryan, Deakin University; Mark Lock (Ngiyampaa), Deakin University, and Troy Walker, Deakin University First Nations children represent the future of the world’s oldest continuing culture. Of the 66,000 Victorians who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in the 2021 Census,…
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Reclaiming health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Dr Michelle Kennedy – PHAA Vice-President Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health This continent’s First Peoples were healthy enough to live here for tens of thousands of years, creating the world’s longest-lasting cultures. Then, colonisation. In a few generations the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ populations declined dramatically, and…
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Is the Australian Government doing enough to counter the impacts of climate change on Torres Strait Islander communities?
Anna Alex – PHAA intern Back in May 2019, a group of Torres Strait Islanders lodged a landmark climate and human rights case with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Submitted by a group dubbed the Torres Strait 8, the claimants say the Australian Government breached their human rights by…
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allies start with the basics; correct terminology.
Dr Summer May Finlay If you can’t get the simple things right, how can we trust you to get the big stuff right? That has always been my attitude when it comes to using the correct terminology when referring to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It should be…
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Black Lives Matter protests should proceed – safely
Two hugely important public health objectives – Black Lives Matter and COVID-19 have been framed as competing imperatives. They are not. The Black Lives Matter movement in Australia seeks to highlight the deplorable circumstances of disadvantage and discrimination experienced by Australia’s First people.
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Where do you fit? Tokenistic, ally – or accomplice?
This National Reconciliation Week is a good time to decide where you fit – how can you support the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Just three per cent of the Australian population, are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We need the other 97 per cent of…
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Navigating COVID-19 social distancing rules for Aboriginal people
Social distancing is largely self-regulated, with people generally doing the right thing on their own. The police are enforcing these important public health guidelines, notably in public places. But are police enforcing restrictions equally, without any racial discrimination?