Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands Winnunga News€¦ · the same, while perhaps not as forcefully or publicly, but in some form or another. A senior member of the Aboriginal community

Do it with us, not to us

Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands

It was with great sadness that I together with the Aboriginal

community of Canberra and across Australia received the news of

the passing of two senior and highly regarded Aboriginal women,

Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Wiradjuri elder, poet , writer and activist and

Tracey Whetnall, Dharrawal elder, AMC Official Visitor and

businesswoman.

Kerry and Tracey were each committed to supporting their

community and the Aboriginal peoples of Australia in seeking

recognition of their rightful place as this nation’s first peoples and

in achieving justice for the historic wrongs they have endured.

Both women were tireless and selfless in working to support our

community and each has left a legacy of which their families and

loved ones can be proud.

I extend, on behalf of myself and all the staff at Winnunga AHCS our heartfelt

condolences to all the family and friends of Tracey and Kerry.

The following poem, written by Kerry Reed-Gilbert, has a special poignancy as we

celebrate both her and Tracey’s life and mourn their death:

Wiradjuri Country

The bush calls me back

To the time of before.

Before tar and cement

Brick walls and tin roofs.

To the time of Creation

Where men were men

And honesty was Lore.

We cannot afford to be complacent in the struggle in which we are engaged and to

which Tracey and Kerry devoted their lives, for the root causes of Indigenous

disadvantage to be recognised and addressed.

CEO Update

Winnunga News J U L Y 2 0 1 9

ISSN 2206-3080

Inside this Issue:

Australia Shamed at

United Nations Over

Imprisonment of

Aboriginal Women 2

Housing Needs Not

Being Met 3

Adam Goodes: The

Final Quarter 4

Not So Together 5, 6

Winnunga Clothing

Pool 6

Where Are They? 7

Aunty Thelma - National

Female Elder of the

Year 8

Save the Date 8

Deadly Choices 9

Ear Health 9

AMC NAIDOC

Event 10, 11

Phone System For

Sale 12

Staff Profile 13

Julie Tongs OAM, CEO



P A G E 2

Australia Shamed at United Nations

Over Imprisonment of Aboriginal

Women The scandalous rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are incarcerated in Australia was a focus of the most recent meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Switzerland. The United Nations was addressed by Ms June Oscar, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, and by Ms Antoinette Braybrook CEO of Djirra, an Aboriginal family violence prevention and legal service. In her speech Ms Braybrook pointed out Aboriginal women are imprisoned at 21 times the rate of other women and that while Aboriginal women made up only 2.2 per cent of the Australian female population they comprise 34 per cent of the prison population. Ms Braybook and Ms Oscar called on the Human Rights Council to hold Australia to account for the massive over representation of Aboriginal women in prison across Australia and to address the causes of their incarceration. The ACT to its particular shame regularly has the highest or near highest relative rate of incarceration of Aboriginal women in Australia. In the ACT Aboriginal women comprise just 1.6 per cent of the female population but for a number of years have often made up to 40 per cent of the women in prison. In the last weeks, for example, Aboriginal women have constituted 18 of the 38 women incarcerated in the AMC. To add to our shame the Inspector of Corrections, Mr Neil McAllister has reported in recent months that the accommodation for women at the AMC is sub-standard and clearly unacceptable. He found that the unsatisfactory nature of the accommodation will lead to the re-traumatising of vulnerable women, many of whom are Aboriginal, who are locked up at the prison. In responding to the findings of the Inspector of Corrections the Minister for Corrections, Mr Shane Rattenbury dismissed, out of hand, all of the concerns raised by the Commissioner in relation to the accommodation of women in the prison.

‘Ms Braybook

and Ms Oscar

called on the

Human Rights

Council to hold

Australia to

account for the

massive over

representation

of Aboriginal

women in

prison across

Australia and to

address the

causes of their

incarceration.’

Ms June Oscar Ms Antoinette

Braybrook



P A G E 3

Housing Needs Not Being Met A recent report by the Institute for Social Research of the University of Queensland into the housing needs of Canberrans with high and complex needs highlights the very limited housing support provided to Indigenous people. The report finds there are limited accommodation options for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The report authors quote participants in the research identifying a lack of trust by Indigenous people in mainstream accommodation and support services, due in part to their personal experiences of injustice, as a major factor in the failure of the ACT Government to appropriately meet their needs. Responses provided to the research team included the following: ‘We find it difficult to navigate through the system, especially when our clients don’t want to go there…so there’s that fear factor for a lot of Aboriginal people.’ ‘Even if you’ve got a mainstream service… with Aboriginal workers the trust might be in the workers but they won’t trust because the service is not Aboriginal community-controlled.’ The report confirms there are in fact no Aboriginal community controlled accommodation services in the ACT for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The ACT is understood to be the only jurisdiction in Australia which does not support an Aboriginal community controlled housing provider or have an Indigenous specific housing policy or a plan designed to assist Aboriginal residents to access affordable housing. The report does identify the existence of an ‘Indigenous Boarding House’ provided, it says by EveryMan Australia, a mainstream service established and delivered by a pre-dominately non-Aboriginal board and administration. The existence of an ‘Indigenous Boarding House’ in the ACT has come as a surprise to the Aboriginal community. Winnunga AHCS is seeking details from OATSIA about the Boarding House, including where it is located and how it may be accessed.

‘The ACT is

understood to

be the only

jurisdiction in

Australia which

does not

support an

Aboriginal

community

controlled

housing

provider or

have an

Indigenous

specific housing

policy or a plan

designed to

assist

Aboriginal

residents to

access

affordable

housing.’

Fact: Homeless Indigenous Australians were more likely to sleep rough, or in improvised dwellings and shelters,

than non-Indigenous Australians (27% compared with 15%).

source: www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians



P A G E 4

Adam Goodes: The Final Quarter The recent documentary, The Final Quarter, which exposed the depth of the racism and vilification which Adam Goodes was forced to endure for years before his forced retirement, has surely had an impact on those that facilitated and participated in the race fuelled hate campaign against him as well as the broader community. For those of us who have little or no interest in AFL, for reasons this documentary has highlighted, and who were therefore not particularly engaged by or aware of the treatment being meted out to Adam Goodes week after week for more than two years, watching ‘The Final Quarter’ was like a savage blow to the body. The impact of the ceaseless booing, the vicious cat calling and the undisguised racial hatred was sickening. The role of a bevy of high profile media ‘personalities’ who were instrumental in orchestrating and maintaining the witch hunt was ignorant and reflected the basest elements of journalism. The silence of the AFL was disgraceful. Claims by those that participated in or excused the treatment of Adam Goodes as harmless barracking or as unrelated to the colour of his skin are derisory and deserving of contempt. The treatment of Adam Goodes was nothing less than institutionalised racism and there is likely not a single Aboriginal person in Australia who has not themselves experienced the same, while perhaps not as forcefully or publicly, but in some form or another. A senior member of the Aboriginal community in Darwin, Mr Charlie King, summarised the treatment of Adam Goodes as follows: ‘This is about Adam Goodes because of the powerful position that he held; we didn’t like it, so we booed him and we wanted to cut him down.’ ‘I think that deep down, that was the problem with Adam Goodes in the eyes of some people-they didn’t like the idea an Aboriginal person could be powerful, and Adam Goodes was powerful, so they set out to crush him, and they did, they were successful in doing it.’ What Charlie King is saying is that white Australia was determined to make sure that Adam Goodes, a black man, knew his place. That by making an example of him and hounding him from the game he loved and excelled at, as well as his livelihood, that other Aboriginal peoples would understand the fate that awaited them if they got too uppity and demanded equality and a fair go.

‘Claims by those

that

participated in

or excused the

treatment of

Adam Goodes

as harmless

barracking or as

unrelated to the

colour of his

skin are

derisory and

deserving of

contempt.’

Fact: On 25 January 2014 Adam Goodes was named Australian of the Year .

Adam Goodes



P A G E 5

Not So Together ACT Together, the ACT Government’s chosen provider of child protection and

out-of-home care services for Canberra’s most vulnerable children, almost a third of

whom are Aboriginal, has suffered a further blow to its credibility. One of the

foundational members of the consortium, Premier Youth Works, has not only withdrawn

from ACT Together but has also announced that it will cease all operations in the ACT.

Premier Youth Works had the fundamentally important role within the consortium of

providing and managing residential care homes for children and teenagers for whom

foster care or other care arrangements are not possible or appropriate.

It is understood that Premier Youth Works is currently caring for 32 children about one

third of whom are Aboriginal.

The decision by Premier Youth Works to abandon ACT Together, was said by it, to be

related solely to the refusal of the ACT Government to adequately fund it for the level

and complexity of services that these most vulnerable of all children required.

The Director of Premier Youth Works said:

‘There have been many discussions and meetings over the last twelve months, involving

Community Services Directorate where requests for additional funds has been made to

meet the costs of delivering services to the most vulnerable children and young people in

the community.’

‘Unfortunately these repeated attempts to gain additional funding to offset costs of

delivering the services have been unsuccessful.’

It is to be hoped every effort is being made to ensure the disruption to the care arrangements for the affected children will be the first priority of the Government. In order to ensure this is the case it would be wise to invite Our Booris Our Way to have direct involvement and oversight of the transitional arrangements. It may also be appropriate for Our Booris Our Way to arrange for an immediate case review of all of the affected children to assess the adequacy and appropriateness of their current care plan. This major blow to the credibility of the ACT Govern-ment’s commitment to supporting the most vulnerable of all children in our community follows the recent damning report of Our Booris Our Way which expressed major concerns about the operations of ACT Together and the ACT Government’s commitment to the Our Booris Our Way reports and recommendations.

‘...the ACT

Government’s

chosen provider

of child

protection and

out-of-home

care services for

Canberra’s most

vulnerable

children, almost

a third of whom

are Aboriginal,

has suffered a

further blow to

its credibility.’

Fact: The latest Our Booris Our Way recommendations can be found at

www.strongfamilies.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1361627/Our-Booris-Our-Way-Third-Set-of-

Recommendations-May-2019.pdf



P A G E 6

Not So Together (cont’d) In particular comment was made on the urgency of the need for the ACT Government to implement and embed the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles and secondly and most alarmingly the formal finding of Our Booris Our Way in its latest report of ‘The apparent bias of ACT Together towards non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander foster carers…’. The Our Booris report concluded this was a cause for grave concern given the level of responsibility afforded to ACT Together, and it accordingly recommended that this issue had to be addressed before moving to any new contract arrangement. The decision of Premier Youth Works to withdraw from the consortium of necessity involves a major change to the existing contractual arrangements. It is imperative no new arrangements be entered into with ACT Together until the issues raised by Our Booris Our Way are fully addressed. It should be noted in this context the recommendation that the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles be embedded in policy and practice requires an Aboriginal community controlled organisation be fully involved in all decisions involving an Aboriginal child in contact with the child protection system. In the ACT there are only two such organisations with the trust, standing and capacity to be potentially so engaged, namely Winnunga AHCS and Gugan Gulwan. It is imperative that in future the ACT Government ensure the decision taken by it when the current Step Up for Our Kids contractual arrangements were entered into to deny Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations any role or involvement in caring for Aboriginal children in touch with the care and protection not be repeated.

Winnunga AHCS extends it warmest thankyou to the organisations and individuals who have donated clothing to the clothing pool. The items donated have been received by the community with gratitude. There are many members of our community that are a little warmer and a lot more comfortable because of your generosity and thoughtfulness. Thank you. Thank you also to the National Indigenous Australian’s Agency, PM&C who donated to Winnunga AHCS 169 CTG T-shirts in July 2019.

‘It is

imperative no

new

arrangements

be entered

into with ACT

Together until

the issues

raised by Our

Booris Our

Way are fully

addressed.’

Fact: Closing the Gap aims to improve the lives of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Winnunga Clothing Pool



P A G E 7

Aunty Thelma - National Female

Elder of the Year The 2019 National NAIDOC Ball and Awards night was held

recently in Canberra and what an incredible night it was. Our

very own Aunty Thelma Weston, NSP (Needle Syringe

Program) Reception Officer at Winnunga AHCS, was

announced the National NAIDOC Female Elder of the Year.

Aunty Thelma said she was very surprised but honoured to

receive the Award. Congratulations Aunty Thelma from all of

us at Winnunga AHCS.

To read more about Aunty Thelma and the other Award

winners, go to:

https://www.naidoc.org.au/awards/winner-profiles

‘Aunty

Thelma

Weston, NSP

(Needle

Syringe

Program)

Reception

Officer at

Winnunga

AHCS, was

announced

the National

NAIDOC

Female Elder

of the Year.’

Hon Linda Burney MP, Aunty

Thelma Weston and

Hon Ken Wyatt AM, MP

2019 National NAIDOC Awards Recipients

Save the Date

Winnunga AHCS NAIDOC Event

Friday 6 September 2019

11am to 3pm

63 Boolimba Crescent, Narrabundah ACT 2604

There will be food, entertainment and activities for all ages

and we look forward to seeing everyone on the day.

This is an alcohol and smoke free event

https://www.naidoc.org.au/awards/winner-profiles



P A G E 8

Where Are They? In the June 2019 Winnunga Newsletter Julie Tongs expressed her disappointment at the decision of the ACT Government to discontinue funding the ACT Legal Aid Commission’s domestic violence service. She urged the Government to immediately restore the funding. Her call has been ignored. Julie pointed out that Aboriginal women are vastly over-represented as victims of crime including as victims of family violence, and noted that in recent years the Legal Aid Commission has assisted hundreds of women a year, including many Aboriginal women, who have been subjected to violence and abuse. Julie notes that the Legal Aid Commission is not only the service of choice for women seeking legal support to protect themselves and their children from violence and abuse but it is also for virtually all Aboriginal women and women from low income households the only legal support available to them. They simply cannot afford to privately engage a lawyer. Julie has said she is concerned that the decision by Attorney-General, Gordon Ramsay and Minister for Women, Yvette Berry to cancel the Legal Aid domestic violence service will lead to a dramatic and frightening increase in the number of women from lower income households having no access to legal assistance or protection from the law when they suffer violence and abuse. Julie has said while she is disappointed that the ACT Government has ignored her call for this vital service to be restored, she is even more disappointed at the deafening silence of Canberra’s mainstream community sector organisations and community leaders about this remarkable decision to leave Aboriginal and other women without legal support or assistance to protect themselves from violence. Julie said the fact that not a single voice in Canberra has been raised in support of her call for Aboriginal women to have access to legal support when they and their children are being subjected to violence, has left her wondering where has the mainstream community sector, including women’s services ,gone? As for the rest of the people in Canberra, including in the Legislative Assembly they will, of course, without a second’s self-reflection or self-consciousness, on White Ribbon Day again pin their white ribbons to their lapels and proclaim their horror of family violence. Duty done? We don’t think so.

‘...not a single

voice in

Canberra has

been raised in

support of her

call for

Aboriginal

women to have

access to legal

support...has

left her

wondering

where has the

mainstream

community

sector ,including

women’s

services, gone?’


Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands P A G E 9

Deadly Choices Winnunga AHCS partnered with Deadly Choices and the Canberra Raiders to

encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to make healthy choices

for themselves and their family.

If you haven’t had your yearly 715 Health Check,

come into Winnunga AHCS and make an

appointment or call us on 6284 6222.

Winnunga AHCS welcomes this partnership and

we are pleased to inform the Raiders tops have

now arrived. We look forward to seeing more of

the Raiders Deadly Choices t-shirts around

Canberra.

Tommy Smith recently came to

Winnunga AHCS and had his health

check.

Raiders Deadly Choice shirt.



P A G E 1 0

AMC NAIDOC Event Julie Tongs, Winnunga AHCS CEO congratulated AMC management for organising the NAIDOC Day event at the prison. Julie said she was pleased to have attended the event and considered it a success. The event allowed families, loved ones and friends of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees in the AMC to spend half a day in relaxed surroundings with detainees. The AMC hosted a bar-b-que lunch and engaged the very popular Dale Huddlestone and Riverbank band who entertained the gathering with songs close to the hearts of the Aboriginal community. Johnny Huckle, as always, went out of his way to engage and amuse the high number of children attending the event. Events at the AMC such as the NAIDOC Day have a range of positive impacts mostly related to maintaining connection between detainees and their families but also in providing an opportunity for detainees to be sensitised to the price they are paying for their criminal behaviour and of the opportunities that a life without crime present. The event was happy and joyous and certainly provided an outlet for detainees subject on a daily basis to extended hours locked in cells and to a life of unremitting boredom. It was an event that surely reflected the intentions of the ACT Government when it set out to establish a human rights compliant and rehabilitation focussed prison that would be unique in Australia and reflect world’s best practice in corrections management. While it is clear the management of the AMC bears no resemblance to that originally envisioned and is, in fact, in the eyes of most the antithesis of a human rights compliant and rehabilitation focussed prison, it is not too late for ACT Corrective Services to accept that it has failed to meet the Government’s expectations for the AMC and to start again and turn its management of the prison around to what was originally intended. Having regard to the outstanding success of the NAIDOC Day event the first question one might pose is why restrict events of this nature to one day a year and for Aboriginal detainees only? Why not have similar events say once a month and why not ensure that all detainees are able to participate? Why not get serious about human rights and rehabilitation?

‘Why not get

serious about

human rights

and

rehabilitation?’



P A G E 1 1

AMC NAIDOC Event (cont’d) Trevor Ryan delivered a speech at the recent NAIDOC event at AMC on behalf of all Aboriginal detainees which he has agreed to share with Winnunga AHCS Newsletter readers. * Under the theme – Voice. Treaty. Truth. Let’s work together for a shared future - NAIDOC Week 2019 was held nationally from Sunday 7 July and continued through to Sunday 14 July. * Voice. Treaty. Truth were three key elements to the reforms set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. These reforms represent the unified position of First Nations Australians. * For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have looked for significant and lasting change. We need our fellow Australians to join us on this journey – to finish the unfinished business of this country. * The 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart built on generations of consultation and discussions among Indigenous people - we need to be the architects of our lives and futures. * It’s time for our knowledge to be heard through our voice – an Indigenous voice of this country that is over 65,000 plus years old. * They are the first words spoken on this continent. Languages that passed down lore, culture and knowledge for over millennia. * They are precious to our nation and need to be celebrated but it’s our voice that needs to be listened to. The 2019 theme acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always wanted an enhanced role in decision-making in Australia’s democracy. * The theme also aims at highlighting our various First Nations’ desires for lasting and effective agreements such as Treaties - which cannot be achieved unless we have a shared, truthful understanding of the nature of the dispute, of the history, of how we got to where we stand. * The history of our First Peoples is the history of all of us, of all of Australia, and we need to own it - hearing this history is necessary before we can come to some true reconciliation, some genuine healing for both sides.

‘For

generations,

Aboriginal and

Torres Strait

Islander peoples

have looked for

significant and

lasting change.

We need our

fellow

Australians to

join us on this

journey – to

finish the

unfinished

business of this

country.’

Fact: NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced

to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920′s which sought to increase awareness in the wider

community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

(source: www.naidoc.org.au/about/history)

Rose Peters, Trevor Ryan, Julie Tongs and Jon Stanhope at the AMC NAIDOC event


Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands P A G E 1 2



P A G E 1 3

What is your favourite song?

Without Me

What do you do on the weekends?

Exercise

What is your favourite food?

Chicken Parmigiana

What do you like most about working at

Winnunga?

The friendly, welcoming atmosphere

My favourite pet?

Dog

What is your pet hate?

Dishonesty

Name: Nathan Sutherland

Position: Psychologist

Who’s your mob?

Wiradjuri

Where’s your country?

Orange NSW

Who is your favourite singer/band?

Halsey

Staff Profile

Documents

Aboriginal Health in Aboriginal Hands Winnunga News€¦ · the same, while perhaps not as forcefully or publicly, but in some form or another. A senior member of the Aboriginal community