Indigenous health bodies call for urgent funding support
Commonwealth support for Indigenous health services is not aligning with public commitments including the jobs and economic development agenda, health professionals have claimed.
Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) has called for more funding to enable longterm sustainable health outcomes via jobs and training across Australia, but especially in the ACT and the NT.
Dr Olivia O’Donoghue, Acting President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association.
“The current funding agreement IAHA has with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is set to expire on June 30 next year,” the organisation has stated in an online petition.
“Without an immediate promise to renew the agreement – with an increased and sustainable, longer-term commitment – the scale, impact and momentum of IAHA is placed at significant risk.
IAHA is already unable to grow services and programs, including being forced to turn young people away due to limitations on infrastructure and staffing resources in the ACT and NT, while we’re unable to support new cohorts in New South Wales due to funding uncertainty.”
Representatives of our leading Indigenous health organisations.
The organisation employs 195 staff and trainees nationally, over 90 per cent of whom are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, while promoting over 2100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members nationally to succeed in careers in across health, disability, aged care, mental health, social services and related sectors.
In an article published on croakey.org four leading Indigenous health organisations have said funding insecurity is a major threat to their operations.
Sign the petition
“The actions of the Albanese Government and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is misaligned with their commitments, including the Government’s jobs, productivity and economic development agenda, and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap,” they wrote.
Dr Olivia O’Donoghue, a GP and Acting President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA), said the current funding uncertainty undermined the stability and progress of critical programs.
We urge the Government to honour its commitments under the National Agreement and invest in community-led solutions that reflect the scale and impact of this work,” she said.
The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/call-for-the-commonwealth-to-fund-iaha-to-sustainably-create-transformative-change
