Submissions Library

Gavin Brown, COO of Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, recounts his challenges and successes as a leader in First Nations organisations.

Ngaweeyan Maar-oo, meaning “Voice of and from the people” in Gunditjmara dialect, is the Victorian Government’s implementation partner and shared-decision making body under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (National Agreement).

This submission aims to build on and further explore the issues raised in the verbal testimony of the Ngaweeyan Maar-oo co-chairs and Executive Director. In particular, this submission:

• provides an overview and stocktake of the National Closing the Gap Agreement
• provides direction to the Victorian Government on next steps in activating the Productivity Commission Review into the National Closing the Gap Agreement recommendations
• makes further recommendations to draw on the Victorian experiences and challenges implementing the National Agreement
• coordinates a statewide collective position on behalf of the Ngaweeyan Maar-oo memberships individual recommendations made through their submissions to Yoorrook Justice Commission

Olivia Bonanno is a proud Wergaia and Wemba-Wemba woman who works as an academic in the Gukwonderuk Health Unit at Monash University.

In this video submission, she discusses what the healthcare system is like for Indigenous people, her experience of being aboriginal in Victoria and hopes for the future.

This submission is a short film titled “The Story of Legend” about the extraordinary life and story of Sir Doug Nicholls.

First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing’s (FPHW) is an Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation (ACCHO) providing affordable primary healthcare services to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander People and their families in urban Melbourne.

This submission from FPHW is a response to Yoorrook’s health inquiry and details:

• Inequities in the Medicare and My Medicare systems
• Inequities faced by those under the ACCHO Award
• Inherent mistrust of ACCHOs by funders and the associated excessive administrative burdens
• Data sovereignty
• Interactions with mainstream providers

Mathew Leeder is a proud Palawa and Dja Dja Wurrung man.

This submission is a transcript of Matthew discussing his experiences in residential care, hospitals, and psychiatric settings. It also includes reflections on the changes he would like to see and his hopes for the future of Aboriginal people

In this submission, the author recounts an experience of discrimination when seeking urgent care within the health system, and calls for an overhaul of the academic teaching provided to healthcare workers.

Professor Gregory Phillips, PhD, is a Waanyi and Jaru man with an extensive lived experience in Aboriginal families and communities in Australia and globally with other Indigenous peoples.

This submission draws from his expertise and covers the following topics:

• Health: Key evidence linking racism as a public health issue to closing the gap
• Healing: Key elements, principles and socio-political and economic issues
• Truth, Justice and Healing (THJ) Project: The outcomes of Ebony Institute’s research

The Aboriginal Justice Caucus is made up of all the Aboriginal signatories to the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement and includes Chairpersons of each of the nine Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committees, representatives from statewide Aboriginal justice programs, Aboriginal peak bodies and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations. The Aboriginal Justice Caucus provides statewide representation and leadership to amplify Community voices in all areas relating to justice.

This submission focuses on systemic injustice in the health, housing and education systems, including:

• Foundational systemic issues hindering progress towards self-determination
• Systemic injustice in relation to health and custodial healthcare
• Systemic injustice in relation to housing and homelessness
• Systemic injustice in relation to education and schools