Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Forde for your ongoing interest in this area but also your longstanding friendship. As of this morning, more than 160,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, nearly 30 per cent, have received one dose. Fourteen per cent, or 80,371, have received a second dose. Whilst we need to increase the vaccination rates, they are steadily progressing forward.

On the weekend, I watched a particular episode on television to do with Warmun in my own state of WA. Eighty per cent of residents were vaccinated in two days supported by the leadership of Gija woman Dr Catherine Engelke. She said that having transparency of information from a team that they trust certainly made a difference. But they could also see that people haven't had reactions to the vaccination. We're using 15 to 17 languages through Aboriginal media to get stories out there.

In the Torres Strait Island region, 67 per cent of the eligible population has received one dose and 41 per cent have had two doses. Palm Island is dealing with tough issues, but has vaccinated 1,172 of the 4,000 residents. Here in Canberra today I know that Julie Tongs at Winnunga will be standing up that Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service to ensure that the vaccination levels she has achieved will continue to be implemented in this region, to ensure that people are protected.

What's more important is that we're working with communities at Miwatj in the Northern Territory. The health workers went out around the community, along with the doctor, talking to families to ensure that they felt comfortable and that they could be trusted in delivering the vaccines. It is absolutely critical, and what has been tremendous is the work that's being done across government and across the community to achieve these outcomes. I was talking with Lieutenant General Frewen yesterday morning about some of the strategies that he's doing in order to build that partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across this nation, so that we can increase those vaccination rates.

Luckily, we've had no deaths. Even with the numbers that have been affected by COVID, which are around 200, we have not seen them hospitalised. So there's a resilience to some extent. But it's a remarkable achievement when we consider the status of the health conditions of many Indigenous Australians. So we'll continue to work in partnership to implement the program. I also acknowledge my colleague the Minister for Health for the work that he's doing in partnership with me.

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