Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I begin by acknowledging that we are on the land of the Ngunawal and Ngambri people and I pay respects to their elders past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge the Dharug, Gundungurra and Darkinjung, the traditional owners in the electorate of Macquarie, which I represent. Based on the census data, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up three per cent of the population of Macquarie. That's higher than the average for New South Wales or the national average. These are people for whom our failure to close the gap means their life expectancy is, if they are male, 8.6 years lower and, if they're women, 7.8 years lower than the non-Indigenous population and their children are twice as likely to die. We have failed to close the gap on five of the seven targets on health, child mortality, life expectancy, education and employment outcomes. It's such a failure that I can see why the government has thrown in the towel and said that because they've not been achieved they're the wrong targets. I think that's a cop-out. However, that's where we are. And, while we haven't been consulted on the new targets, I trust that there will be genuine engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities about making those meaningful targets and that there will then be a commitment for the necessary funding and support to achieve them.

We should celebrate the two targets that are on track—the same ones as last year—which are the increasing number of children doing preschool and the increasing number of Aboriginal students completing year 12. Education is transformative. It changes lives. It changes futures. It is good that those were on track in these last two reports.

I want to focus on the health aspects as they affect my local communities. Access to health services in my electorate for Indigenous people remains a real concern. For example, some years ago the then Nepean Blue Mountains Medicare Local coordinated an Aboriginal sharing and learning circle within our community to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to get insights into local health needs and to establish the health priorities, alongside the Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District and the Hawkesbury District Health Service. A report was produced in 2015, spanning 2010 to 2014, which is still the most current one. This report found that—

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This report found there was a lack of Aboriginal health services in the Hawkesbury area and that one of the most important barriers to health services for Aboriginal people in the region was the lack of transport options. Many people simply don't have a car, and the public transport links are not good. So people found it difficult to attend health services.

Now, years on, while we certainly have some good work being done in the sector, unfortunately the health services for Aboriginal people in the Hawkesbury are still predominantly delivered from Penrith, or are in Penrith. Penrith is about 20 kilometres from Richmond and Windsor. The public transport between the two regions—the Hawkesbury and Penrith—is minimal: a bus, at times, or a train changing at Blacktown. So the real question is: why hasn't there been any significant change to the transport issues in the region? Why do we still expect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to travel out of the area for the majority of their health services? That is not going to improve their access and it's not going to close the gap.

Of course, our local community services, based in the Hawkesbury, who understand the needs of this really geographically challenging community—organisations like Merana and Mad Mob—work hard to bridge the gaps that exist, and they have my full support in fighting for services that meet the needs of our Indigenous community members.

Since coming to this place, I've also been very disappointed to see a trusted Blue Mountains service, Healthy for Life, disappear with a change in the management of health services. Healthy For Life was a community developed program, developed locally with the Blue Mountains Aboriginal community and local GPs. It was a federal government program aimed at helping Indigenous people see an improvement in their health. The Aboriginal Healthy For Life Program aimed to look after people with chronic and complex illnesses and to improve the health of mums, babies and children overall—it also had a focus on men's and boys—to achieve and improvement in long-term health outcomes, to bring them more in line with health outcomes for non-Indigenous Australians. The big thing that the program did was allow people to meet in the family home, if that was the best place to have the service delivered, or some other preferred location, not necessarily the traditional doctor's surgery. It provided a link and support to health professionals, doctors and specialists. There were regular health checks, and transport was organised for health appointments. These are the sorts of things that help to close the gap. The replacement program has been a really long time coming. I think we need to stress that both the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury Aboriginal communities deserve to have services based in their community, not delivered from somewhere miles away.

There are other organisations in my electorate that are working really hard to close the gap. I'd like to congratulate the nine students who recently completed a customised Diploma Of Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs tailored by TAFE Digital for The Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at Sydney university to provide training for Indigenous students, people who are really keen to work in this area. It means that there are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals in the Nepean and Blue Mountains region who will deliver these mental health, drug and alcohol counselling services. It's a really good step forward. This program was funded by Wentworth Healthcare, who operate the Nepean Blue Mountains Primary Health Network. I know that organisation is working hard with the funding it has to address some of these really difficult and serious health issues. I also want to commend the Blue Mountains GP Network. It has a long-term commitment to providing appropriate health services to the region for Aboriginal people. It is a group of very dedicated local doctors.

In talking about closing the gap I'd like to recognise two local Aboriginal achievers who spent some time in this place recently. They are two businesses from Macquarie who took part in the Supply Nation Indigenous Business Trade Fair. Anny Druett is a business owner from the Blue Mountains. She's an Indigenous speaker and trainer who has mentored Aboriginal staff for more than 25 years. She is a formidable woman. Her cross-cultural training is in demand by government and not-for-profit organisations seeking to improve their relationships with Aboriginal people. It was just wonderful to see her here showcasing what she does. Then there is executive chef Matthew Atkins, who technically doesn't live in my electorate but is very much a feature of the Hawkesbury business scene. He operates Plate Events and Catering in the Hawkesbury district and much further afield. Right now, the business is preparing to host an Indigenous fusion event in Richmond which will take donors on a unique culinary journey through the Dharug seasonal calendar, with a wide range of native Australian ingredients showcased alongside music, art and an exhibition of Aboriginal artefacts. I'm looking forward to that one. I think that the more we celebrate the achievements the more there is a greater understanding and a closing of that gap, the understanding gap.

The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, said that the Closing the Gap statement to parliament commemorates the historic anniversary of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the stolen generation. Like him, I hope that the statement that we have recently heard results in real change, because while there have been improvements the gap does remain, and it remains in my region.

Dark Emu author Bruce Pascoe looked at how Australia was a settled land long before we got here. He demonstrated by taking apart the accounts of settlers that there was agriculture, engineering and ownership and stewardship of this land by the First Peoples. As we strive to close the gap that has emerged since Europeans arrived we need to listen to the voices of our First Peoples if we are to affect real change. We need constitutional recognition of their existence, their settlement of this land. Let's make sure that as a result of this Closing the Gap statement and the changes that are promised we don't just pay lip service on these really important matters.

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