Ms MARTIN - 1999-02-16
The Chief Minister told Territorians this morning that the difficulties facing Aboriginal Territorians must be fixed by Canberra. Can he now then outline the details of his plan and tell Territorians which matters should no longer be the responsibility of the Territory Government.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, we could get progress on this issue if we do think it together. I certainly would say that the Territory has a role to play - it has a very important and critical role to play in the betterment of Aboriginal Territorians. But we would be irresponsible to suggest that the Northern Territory alone could address this issue. In terms of the sorts of initiatives the Northern Territory is making, one could only point to the excellent work that is already being done throughout many departments.
The health department stands proudly for the increases that it has achieved in Aboriginal health, child morbidity and those sorts of issues. Some of the other initiatives that are starting to bear fruit are the coordinated care trials, an excellent initiative which involves Commonwealth money and Northern Territory money. But, more importantly, there is the establishment of Aboriginal health boards that have greater control of their own health delivery mechanisms and in many respects are deciding that what were seen as important decisions by Territory Health Services in the past are now seen less importantly by the Aboriginal people themselves, and they are moving their resources to where they believe they can get a better outcome. That sort of coordinated care trial model we will continue to pursue.
Separately, I have stood in this Chamber on many occasions and talked about the inequity in Commonwealth funding with regards to medical benefits and those sorts of issues. I certainly continued to lobby Minister Wooldridge, the federal health minister, on these issues prior to becoming Chief Minister and I have already spoken to the current health minister, and he will continue that particular good work.
But, at the end of the day, there is a limit to what the Northern Territory government alone can do. Certainly, better coordination across all departments is one area where I think we are failing badly in many respects, and there is a need to do far more in the areas of health, education, public sanitation, housing and those sorts of issues.
But when it comes to real improvement in Aboriginal health, it is squarely a national issue, and I doubt if anyone would disagree with that. The argument that I hope would achieve bipartisan support is that Australians as a nation have to say: ‘Enough! This is simply not good enough.’
We have real opportunities in getting significant commitment from the Commonwealth government prior to the Olympics, and we should take that opportunity try and explain to Australians. I think it is a very important argument to put because it has to be countered by the Hansonite-type argument that they get too much money and it is all wasted. The reality is, the money is not targeted properly, as I said this morning, but simply the Commonwealth has to use their taxation clout, their resources clout, with the cooperation of the states and the Northern Territory. The simply have to get the programs in, get the coordination and get the focus so that we can address the problem, as I said this morning, by firstly recognising that despite all the cultural differences, the issues that confront Aboriginal Australians, particularly in the Northern Territory, are the same issues that confronted slum-dwelling Australians in the 1920s.
We know the programs which work. If we put the resources into those programs, in a coordinated way, then we essentially fix the problem. That’s the issue and I would imagine that that is something we should progress together in an absolutely bipartisan way. If we do that we can stand proudly and say that we have really done our utmost to see improvement in this area.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, we could get progress on this issue if we do think it together. I certainly would say that the Territory has a role to play - it has a very important and critical role to play in the betterment of Aboriginal Territorians. But we would be irresponsible to suggest that the Northern Territory alone could address this issue. In terms of the sorts of initiatives the Northern Territory is making, one could only point to the excellent work that is already being done throughout many departments.
The health department stands proudly for the increases that it has achieved in Aboriginal health, child morbidity and those sorts of issues. Some of the other initiatives that are starting to bear fruit are the coordinated care trials, an excellent initiative which involves Commonwealth money and Northern Territory money. But, more importantly, there is the establishment of Aboriginal health boards that have greater control of their own health delivery mechanisms and in many respects are deciding that what were seen as important decisions by Territory Health Services in the past are now seen less importantly by the Aboriginal people themselves, and they are moving their resources to where they believe they can get a better outcome. That sort of coordinated care trial model we will continue to pursue.
Separately, I have stood in this Chamber on many occasions and talked about the inequity in Commonwealth funding with regards to medical benefits and those sorts of issues. I certainly continued to lobby Minister Wooldridge, the federal health minister, on these issues prior to becoming Chief Minister and I have already spoken to the current health minister, and he will continue that particular good work.
But, at the end of the day, there is a limit to what the Northern Territory government alone can do. Certainly, better coordination across all departments is one area where I think we are failing badly in many respects, and there is a need to do far more in the areas of health, education, public sanitation, housing and those sorts of issues.
But when it comes to real improvement in Aboriginal health, it is squarely a national issue, and I doubt if anyone would disagree with that. The argument that I hope would achieve bipartisan support is that Australians as a nation have to say: ‘Enough! This is simply not good enough.’
We have real opportunities in getting significant commitment from the Commonwealth government prior to the Olympics, and we should take that opportunity try and explain to Australians. I think it is a very important argument to put because it has to be countered by the Hansonite-type argument that they get too much money and it is all wasted. The reality is, the money is not targeted properly, as I said this morning, but simply the Commonwealth has to use their taxation clout, their resources clout, with the cooperation of the states and the Northern Territory. The simply have to get the programs in, get the coordination and get the focus so that we can address the problem, as I said this morning, by firstly recognising that despite all the cultural differences, the issues that confront Aboriginal Australians, particularly in the Northern Territory, are the same issues that confronted slum-dwelling Australians in the 1920s.
We know the programs which work. If we put the resources into those programs, in a coordinated way, then we essentially fix the problem. That’s the issue and I would imagine that that is something we should progress together in an absolutely bipartisan way. If we do that we can stand proudly and say that we have really done our utmost to see improvement in this area.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016