Media Release: 1 April 2009

Close the gap and reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the NT

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) calls on the Rudd Labor Government to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), suspended by the Howard government, and boost the health care workforce in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory on national Close the Gap day (April 2).

“There is no apparent benefit to the health of Indigenous communities in maintaining the suspension of the RDA. The United Nations has rightly expressed concern over the suspension and the RDA should be reinstated immediately,” said Australian Nursing Federation Federal Secretary Ms Ged Kearney.

“The ANF welcomes all of the positive moves the Rudd government has taken to close the 17-year life expectancy gap in Indigenous communities but we don’t believe suspending legislation designed to protect people from racial discrimination is either warranted or beneficial. Mr Rudd recently signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and would be aware of the conflict in maintaining the suspension of the RDA in our own Indigenous communities.”

Ms Kearney applauded the efforts of nurses working with Aboriginal Health Workers and medical and allied health professionals in remote and Indigenous communities. “Nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers provide the bulk of primary health care services in Indigenous communities. They work tirelessly to improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people and we need to ensure they remain working on the ground to close the 17-year life expectancy gap.”

Ms Kearney said she was also concerned about recent reports that Aboriginal women travelling interstate from the Northern Territory had been unable to access Centrelink payments due to the quarantine measures imposed by the NT intervention. “A recent report detailed the case of a woman who tried to buy food with the Basics card that operates in the NT but the card was not recognised in New South Wales,” Ms Kearney said. “We are not going to improve health care outcomes by hampering people’s ability to access food and medical services outside the NT. A solution must be found that doesn’t marginalise Indigenous people.”

 

Media Contacts
Ged Kearney, ANF Federal Secretary, 0417 053 322
Libby Muir, ANF Communications Officer, 0413 834 979

 

The ANF, with 170,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in Australia.