Letter to the Prime Minister

Instructions:

_________________

The Prime Minister
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Prime Minister,

I support the Indigenous Health Rights Statement below. I am very concerned that Indigenous Australians consistently experience Third World health outcomes, while other Australians enjoy the very best health standards globally. I want the Australian Government to fulfil its responsibilities to Indigenous Australians in relation to these matters.

Signed:_____________________________ Date:____________________

Name:______________________________________________________

Address:____________________________________________________

Suburb:___________________________State:_______Postcode:_______

Healing Hands
Indigenous Health Rights Statement

"The health of Indigenous Australians is the worst in the developed world. Indigenous infants die at nearly three times the rate of other Australian infants; their lives will, on average, be twenty years shorter: and they are much more likely to suffer chronic disease.

In a wealthy country like Australia such gross inequality and neglect is shameful and abhorrent. It is also preventable. In similar countries, such as Canada, New Zealand and the United States the health of Indigenous people has been rapidly improved by determined and concerted government action.

The necessary first step in resolving the present crisis in Australia is to recognise that it is not inevitable.

Australia must acknowledge that the crisis began with colonization and dispossession and became endemic when social and economic disadvantage became entrenched. The crisis will not end until these conditions are changed.

If the health of Indigenous Australians is to be improved all Australian governments must resolve to provide:

• primary health care on the basis of need, through Aboriginal community controlled health services and better access to mainstream services
• a significant increase in the health workforce, particularly of Indigenous background
• comprehensive early intervention and prevention programs
• significant improvements in educational and employment outcomes, and housing and infrastructure provision.

Health refers not only to the physical well-being of individuals, but also to the social, emotional, spiritual and cultural well-being of the communities in which they live. It is a commonplace of medical knowledge that poor health is related to social disadvantage; to stress, social exclusion, unemployment and discrimination. Drug use, alcohol dependence and domestic violence are familiar and inevitable parts of the same cycle.

It follows that measures to improve the health of Indigenous Australians must include the application of principles of self-determination on which durable and resourceful communities absolutely depend. Governments must adopt an enabling role in relation to Indigenous governance.

Australia must recognise that the health of Indigenous organisations and communities and the health of Indigenous people are inseparable. It is equally true that improvements in health depend on overturning the destructive legacies of dispossession, including those that relate to land and culture; and the attainment of a secure and valued place for Indigenous peoples in the life of the nation."

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