Aboriginal health body rejects spending myth
Aboriginal health body rejects spending myth
By Margaret Allum
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) has denied media reports implying that Aboriginal health funding is wasted because Aboriginal people are still much sicker, and die much younger, than other people in Australia.
Referring to the recent release of the Australian National Audit Office report, NACCHO chairperson Puggy Hunter said on November 17 that the media had grossly misinterpreted the report's findings, which reflect more on the health department's performance in administering the Aboriginal health funding program.
"Aboriginal health is certainly in a dire state", said Hunter, "but it is an absolute myth that untold billions have been poured into Aboriginal health to no avail".
He said, "The audit report confirms the need for better coordination between the health department and ATSIC, and between commonwealth and state governments, and more accountability at all levels. This would stop the continual 'buck passing' which stands in the way of any real reform."
NACCHO is the peak national body representing Aboriginal community-controlled health and health-related services, representing about 100 such services throughout Australia. It was formed in 1997, with an elected executive committee, and a secretariat based in Canberra.
In June, the Australian Medical Association made a similar statement in response to the release of the report Australia's Health 1998. The president of the AMA, Dr David Brand, said in July said that this report debunks once and for all the myth that too much money is spent on Aboriginal health.
The Audit Office report assessed new details on Aboriginal health spending in comparison with the rest of the population. While Aborigines make up 2% of the population and 2.2% of total health expenditure was spent on indigenous health, the Medicare and PBS benefits for Aboriginal Australians were only 0.55% and 0.42% of total outlays.
The AMA's indigenous health adviser, Dr Ngiare Brown, said, "With [Aboriginal] life expectancy 15-20 years shorter that the rest of the country, death rates three times higher, infant mortality two to four times higher and a 50% higher hospitalisation rate, we as a nation need to be doing much more to address the problem".
Hunter noted, "As long as the myth of the 'black hole' in Aboriginal health spending is perpetuated by ill-informed commentators, governments will keep using this as an excuse to sidestep any serious commitment to addressing Aboriginal health, and we will have to keep burying our people".