08 HEALTH NEWS THURSDAY 3 AUGUST 2023 TORRES NEWS New child development Governments fall short on Closing the program for Torres and Cape Gap priorities and commitments
A new child development program giving families direct access to a host of specialist services will be launched across the Torres Strait, Cape York and Northern Peninsula Area later this year. The new Integrated Child Development Service team will travel directly to patients at their local primary healthcare centres across the region and will include speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, and dietitians. Member for Cook Cynthia Lui said maternal and child health, and child development had emerged as the top priorities for Torres Strait, Cape York and Northern Peninsula Area communities during last year’s Local Area Needs Assessment. “It will make a huge difference for children and their families who have previously had to travel long distances to access these services,” she said. “The new child development team will work with the recently announced maternal and child health team to ensure the best health outcomes for children in the region.” The team would also provide specialist assessment, diagnosis, and support for children with complex medical conditions, and provide ongoing therapy and support. The Torres & Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS) would provide the service in partnership with the local community.
TCHHS Executive Director of Allied Health Amanda Wilson said recruitment for the child development team was under way. “We are thrilled to see this program funded,” she said. The announcement followed the Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services Shannon Fentiman’s recent visit to the Torres Strait, where she announced $150 million for six new or updated Primary Health Care Centres in the region, and $1.1 million in scholarships and traineeships to grow the health workforce. She said she saw first hand how the program could support families and the delivery of health services. “Access to early developmental therapies and care can provide lifelong benefits to health, education, and wellbeing,” she said. “Children will have access to a team of specialists including speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, and dietitians, all at their local Primary Health Care Centre. “As part of our commitment to the health of people living in the region, we have also committed $150 million to build new or updated Primary Health Care Centres in Torres Strait, Cape York and Northern Peninsula.”
Australian governments do not appear to have grasped the nature and scale of change required to accelerate improvements in life outcomes for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the Productivity Commission’s first overarching draft review of the Agreement says. The review highlighted a lack of meaningful progress in implementing the four key Priority Reforms set by governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations in 2020. “We are seeing too much business-as-usual and too little real transformation,” Productivity Commission Chair Michael Brennan said. The report found despite their commitments governments were not yet sharing power with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people in a way that enabled decisions to be made in genuine partnership. “Consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people cannot be on solutions that are pre-determined – governments need to allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to
make decisions for themselves and their communities,” Productivity Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said. Instead, governments listed thousands of initiatives that were disconnected from each other and the ambitions of the Agreement, many of which represented a re-labelling of existing practices. The report found particularly slow progress on Priority Reform 3 – requiring the reform of government itself – was impeding progress towards the other Priority Reforms. “Priority Reform 3 of the Agreement makes it clear that to drive change government agencies need to change how they work with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people,” Commissioner Romlie Mokak said. “We are yet to identify a government organisation that has a clear vision for what transformation looks like and a strategy to achieve it.” The report found much stronger accountability mechanisms were needed to achieve the Priority Reforms. “Without better accountability mechanisms, we are unlikely to see the transformative changes governments have committed to,” Commissioner Mokak said.
Lowitja Institute welcomed the draft findings and urged all levels of government to accelerate the implementation of the Agreement’s four Priority Reforms. CEO Adjunct Professor Janine Mohamed said lack of progress on Reform 3 was hindering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities’ ability to hold governments to account and build trust. “The Coalition of Peaks made it clear to governments that the socioeconomic targets will only be achieved if governments transform the way they work,” she said. “That means we can’t have a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach; we need place-based co-design, which is good for everyone.” The Productivity Commission has asked for additional information and feedback on its draft recommendations. Submissions and brief comments in response to this draft report are welcome by 6 October 2023. The Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap draft report, information papers and an accompanying video are available from: www.pc.gov.au/ ctg-review
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