Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

I will give you the specific outcomes in each area on notice. But what I will tell you is that in 2010 the Puggy Hunter Memorial Scholarship will support over 290 Indigenous Australians to study in medicine, nursing, dentistry, allied health and Aboriginal health worker disciplines. Through the COAG national partnership and closing the gap initiatives we will be funding 83 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander outreach worker positions, of which 40 will be positions in Aboriginal medical services. We will be funding 94 FTE new Indigenous health project officers in the divisions of general practice. At least 96 people, not FTE, have now been recruited to those positions, of whom 38 are identified as being Indigenous Australians. We have appointed a new National Coordinator for Tackling Indigenous Smoking, who of course is Tom Calma. We have put together a $19 million package over three years to strengthen the capacity of the Indigenous health workforce. This will support the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Nurses to expand the work of mentoring and networking young Indigenous doctors and nurses. We are providing additional training opportunities for Aboriginal health workers. We are supporting the National Aboriginal Health Worker Association, which has recently been formed, and ensuring that Indigenous health is expanded into the curriculum in medical and allied health and nursing schools. The Aboriginal health workforce is at the top of our agenda in terms of providing pathways for Aboriginal people into the health professions and we are consciously examining new and innovative ways of getting people into that workforce. I will provide you with that other stuff on notice.

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