Onemda is delighted to welcome Marcia Langton and her mob from the Austral-ian Indigenous Studies Program (see p.3), who have recently moved to the Centre for Health and Society (which also houses Onemda). We would also like to welcome Cristina Liley and Deb Kno-che (see p.11).

Unfortunately, we have also lost some key staff members. Alexis Wright has left to pursue a PhD in creative writing. We wish her well and look forward to her next novel. Gregory Phillips, who has been with us for four years, is moving on to work on a national campaign to close the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. He has been a valued and inspirational team member and will be greatly missed.

Onemda is currently conducting work-shops on Community attitudes to re-search by engaging with Community members and organisations. So far, we have had a successful meeting in Echu-ca and another is planned for 27 April at the Koorie Heritage Trust.

Onemda has also been developing several websites aimed at promoting Indigenous Health Ethics, LIME Network and Wirra-way Mirrim Koori Research Network. We will let you know when they come on-line and welcome your feedback

And finally, our director Ian Anderson is on a well-deserved sabbatical and won’t be back on deck until the end of June.

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ISSUE NO. 16 April 2007

Onemda Update!

Talkin’ Strong 2Talkin’ Strong 2

In recognition of the support and guidance given to Onemda since we began in 1999 we felt it important to acknowledge more formally the Elders with whom we work so closely.

We are very excited that Aunty Joan Vickery (above), Aunty Joy Wandin-Murphy (below) and Uncle

Kevin Coombs (left) have all agreed to be Onemda’s patrons.

All three have made a significant contribution to Onemda’s work but also more generally to Koori health over many decades.

Since Onemda began our Elders have all actively supported us by attending many of our functions and offering advice and guidance around our community development activities. They have also participated in our teaching and research program.

We are extremely honoured to have these wise Elders formally associated with Onemda.

Our Patrons

Contents Onemda Update 1Onemda Patrons 2Welcome to Indigenous Studies 3Book Launch 3 CRCAH Update 4 Tobacco Control Kit and CEITC Website Launches 5Staff Studies 6Community Profile 6Indigenous Summer School 7Short-term Exchange & U21 8LIME Connection 8Rob Riley Lecture 9Our Latest Publications 10Staff Moves 11

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Professor Marcia Langton, who holds the Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies (AIS), recently transferred her program to the Centre for Health and Society, which also houses Onemda. We’d like to welcome Marcia and her staff: Fiona Finlayson (Office Manager); Odette Mazel (Project Manager/Research Fellow); Uma Acharya (Research Fellow); and Emily Cheesman, Lily O’Neil, Belinda Parker, Alistair Webster and Marie Wellington (Research Assistants).

It has been part of Marcia’s responsibility to create an interdisciplinary Indigenous Studies Program within The University of Melbourne and to set up the undergraduate teaching program. Marcia will now turn her attention to creating an interdisciplinary Masters by coursework in Australian Indigenous Studies working initially with Onemda. Marcia will continue researching issues related to Aboriginal affairs, including land rights, resource management, social impacts of development, Indigenous disputes, policing and substance abuse, and gender and identity. She will also contribute to film and art criticism. Internationally, Marcia is working on Indigenous rights and conservation and environmental policies in East Timor.

Marcia is also the first-named Chief Investigator on the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements (ATNS) Project, which is an Australia Research Council Linkage Project co-funded by the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination and Rio Tinto Pty Ltd. The project examines treaty and agreement making with Indigenous Australians, and the nature of the cultural, social and legal rights encompassed by past, present and potential agreements.

Major initiatives of the project include the creation of the ATNS database (www.atns.net.au) and the publication of Honour Among Nations? Treaties and Agreements with Indigenous People (Melbourne University Press), and Settling with Indigenous Peoples: Case Studies in Agreement Making from Australia, Canada and New Zealand (The Federation Press). The project also involves Maureen Tehan and Lee Godden (School of Law), Lisa Palmer (School of Social and Environmental Enquiry), Lisa Strelein (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs), and Odette Mazel and Uma Acharya from the Indigenous Studies Program.Marcia Langton (far right) and her co-authors (from left) Lisa Palmer

Marcia Langton (far right) and her co-authors (from left) Lisa Palmer (with baby Madelena), Kathryn Shain, Maureen Tehan and Odette Mazel are pictured here at the recent launch of their book Settling with Indigenous People. The event, hosted by the University’s Centre for Indigenous Education, also saw the launch of Aboriginal Healthworkers: Primary Healthcare at the Margins (UWA Press) by Bill Genat (pictured below) written with Sharon Bushby, May McGuire, Eileen Taylor, Yvette Walley and Thelma Weston.

Welcome to the Australian Indigenous Studies Program

Book Launch

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Development of Good Research in Indigenous Communities Guide

The Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH) is developing a publication to help guide researchers and research supervisors who are working in Indigenous settings. The publication is intended to be an easy-to-use manual that will be a hands-on resource in the field and a resource to support training. Alison Laycock, Diane Walker, Nea Harrison (pictured right) and Jenny Brands are working on this project.

Alison and Diane are currently meeting with CRCAH partners and stakeholders to get advice on their needs, and to identify resources. They held a meeting in Melbourne at VACCHO on Thursday 22 March to discuss the development of this guide.

Onemda researchers and students attended this meeting and were able to advise on what information would be useful in such a guide. Issues that arose included ethics, engagement with communities and the supervision needs of students. The group also discussed the scope of the project, the target audience and dissemination of the publication.

New chronic conditions projects in development

Following the call for expressions of interest last year in the Chronic Conditions program, four projects are currently in development. Program Manager Arwen Pratt (pictured below with CRCAH CEO Mick Gooda) and Program Leaders, Kevin Rowley (Onemda) and John Walker (OATSIH), have been supporting the development of these projects.

Proposals have been reviewed by researchers, Community and government reviewers and Quality Assurance Workshops have been held to bring together reviewers and project teams to discuss issues for development. The two workshops held to date in Darwin and Melbourne have provided opportunities to strengthen the proposals, which are:

Promoting healthy communities through healthy • systems (Project Leaders: Nikki Clelland, Leisa McCarthy and Ross Bailie, Menzies School of Health Research).Monitoring and evaluating Aboriginal tobacco • control (Project Leader: David Thomas, Menzies School of Health Research).Indigenous men’s spaces and wellbeing (Project • Leaders: Jack Bulman and Rick Hayes, La Trobe University).Chronic condition management strategies in • Aboriginal communities (Project Leaders: Inge Kowanko, Malcolm Battersby and Peter Harvey, Flinders University).

Social Determinants Program team changes

Program Leader Justin Mohamed has recently transferred from the Comprehensive Primary Health Care, Health Systems and Workforce program to the Social Determinants of Health program. He will bring a perspective from the community-controlled health sector and also from his work in other sectors.

David de Carvalho has replaced Joy McLaughlin as Program Leader from the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH).

The program also has a new Program Manager, Carolyn Modra. Carolyn has previously worked in health research and in the South Australian office of OATSIH, and will be based in Adelaide.

For more information on the CRCAH contact Johanna Monk on monkj@unimelb.edu.au or 03 8344 0884.

CooperativeResearch

Centre for Aboriginal Health

Update

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Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control launches new website

The Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control (CEITC) launched Talkin’ Up Good Air: Australian Indigenous Tobacco Control Resource Kit and CD–ROM on Wednesday 4 April. The kit has been put together to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities to quit tobacco smoking, and is aimed at supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers in their work to improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians.The kit is full of information to help Health Workers further develop their tobacco control knowledge and skills. They can use it:

• to get a better understanding of tobacco control and smoking-related health problems; • to talk up the issue within the community;• to research smoking in the community; • to find money for a tobacco control program; • to advise community members on quitting; • to develop a tobacco control program; • to advocate about tobacco control through the media and to politicians; and• as a ready resource that can be printed or photocopied.

The Community launch of Talkin’ Up Good Air will take place at Danilla Dilba Health Service, Darwin on Thursday 31 May, World No Tobacco Day. Copies of the kit and CD–ROM are available from Nicole McMillan at CEITC: nicolem@unimelb.edu.au or (03) 8344 0870.

The Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control also launched its revamped website. Please check it out: www.ceitc.org.au

For those of you interested in discussing issues around to-bacco control with like-minded health professionals, research-ers and students, CEITC invites you to join its on-line Indigenous Tobacco Control network. Just follow the links on the website’s home page.

CEITC Manager Viki Briggs with acopy of Talkin’ Up Good Air

The Onemda launch of Talkin’ Up Good Air

New Tobacco Control Resource Kit and CD–ROM for Health Workers

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Shaun Ewen

Ian Anderson

Barbara Gibson-Thorpe’s family is originally from Lake Cargelligo–Murrin Bridge area in New South Wales and she is a Wadijeri woman. Barb moved to Bendigo in 1981 and for 18 years was the Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officer at the Bendigo Health Care Group. She has two children and three grandchildren. Recently Barb received an award for her work at the Department of Human Services (DHS) Victoria and, with the kind permission of DHS, we here reproduce the article that appeared in the Department’s newsletter.

Barbara (pictured left with Terry Garwood, Loddon Mallee Regional Director) wishes to acknowledge the contribution made by staff in the region on her ‘Valuing Achievement Award’

‘What can I say, 2006 was a wonderful journey for me as an employee of DHS Loddon Mallee Region. I must acknowledge the Health Aged Care Services team who have given me the nurturing support, through the transition to working for the Department and the cultural transition (shock) of working for the Government.

I also want to thank the Bendigo NAIDOC Committee and the Aboriginal Elders group who provided a week of NAIDOC events to celebrate with Communities at a regional and State level. So what more could I ask for?

I feel so humble for the two awards that I received in 2006: the 2006 NAIDOC Indigenous Outstanding Achievements and the State DHS Valuing Achievement Award 2006. I am proud of the recognition of my commitment to the Department’s values—client focus, professional integrity, collaborative relationships, responsibility and quality.

Loddon Mallee Regional Director, Terry Garwood congratulates Barbara Gibson-Thorpe on winning a State Valuing Achievement Award for 2006 in recognition of her commitment to exceptional performance, modelling the Department’s values.’

Community Profile

Shaun is in the process of completing his PhD through the School of Political and International Studies at Flinders University of South Australia.

His thesis investigates the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up in South Africa after the country’s transition to democracy in 1994.

The commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (who Shaun personally interviewed), listened to many stories of gross violations of human rights, and provided amnesty for certain actions. It also gave reparations for victims of trauma, murder and other crimes against humanity.

The thesis argues that it is not possible to have a full measure of truth, justice or reconciliation for societies in transition from authoritarian regimes to democracies, and that the balance between truth, justice and reconciliation is determined by a range of structural factors in each society.

Staff Studies

Another Onemda PhD candidate finally submitted his thesis in November 2006—Onemda director, Ian Anderson. After a rather long haul of part-time study, Ian finished writing up his project called ‘Aboriginal Health and Welfare Colonialism: 1967–2004’. It was submitted through the School of Social Sciences at La Trobe University.

The thesis brings together a collection of published papers that examines the development of national Aboriginal health policy during the period 1967–2004. The 1967 referendum marked the beginnings of Commonwealth government involvement in Aboriginal affairs, and 2004 saw the Howard government’s abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Welfare colonialism refers to an approach to Aboriginal affairs that was framed by the idea of self-determination and involved reform of the bureaucracy and welfare. Arguably, the new approach to Aboriginal affairs, with its emphasis on mutual obligation, signals a move away from some of the underpinnings of welfare colonialism.

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Indigenous postgraduate students and faculty at the Writing and Editing workshop

The Australian Indigenous Studies Program, the Centre for Indigenous Education (CIE) and Onemda recently co-hosted the 5th Academy of the Social Sciences of Australia Summer School for Indigenous Postgraduate Students. The week-long residential program was held at Trinity College, from 4–10 February, and co-directed by Professor Ruth Fincher, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, and Associate Professor Mark Rose, Director of CIE.

The Summer School focuses on topics and coursework in the health sciences and related social sciences and is led by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders and faculty. Every year, the program welcomes around 30 Indigenous higher degree students, all of whom are involved in research into contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, culture and issues. Students and faculty come from campuses around Australia, including external students based in remote communities.

The program is designed to provide participants and their supervisors with the opportunity to discuss their work with distinguished senior Indigenous scholars, to receive mentoring from faculty and co-students, to fine-tune topics and methodology, and to build capacity and specific skills.

Student projects this year included: barriers to dialysis faced by Aboriginal men; diabetes prevention in early childhood among Aboriginals; the impact of management

structural changes on health service delivery to Indigenous populations; experiences of care giving and care receiving among Aboriginal people with serious mental health problems, and a history of health education in Western Australia. Students from The University of Melbourne participated with projects on changing environs and health, Indigenous men’s health and socio-phonetics.

Course leaders and faculty also included Professor Martin Nakata, Chair of Australian Indigenous Education, University of Technology in Sydney; Emeritus Professor Bob Tonkinson, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Social Anthropology, University of Western Australia; Dr Zane Ma Rhea, Senior Lecturer in Education at Monash University; Professor Lynette Russell, Director of the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Monash University, among others, and co-ordinated by Simone Brotherton from CIE.

The Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training and the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health provided generous support for the program. The Pratt Foundation, CSIRO, the Hecht Foundation, Rio Tinto Aboriginal Foundation, Newmont Australia and The University of Melbourne also gave scholarship support.

2007 Summer School for Indigenous

Postgraduate Students

Talkin’ Strong 8

Have you got the LIME Connection?LIME Connection II is scheduled for 23–25 September in Sydney. The first LIME Connection—or Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education—was held in Fremantle in 2005. Organised by the Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project (formerly CDAMS) here at Onemda and the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, LIME Connection II will be a meeting of about 250 medical educators and Indigenous health professionals and Community members who are involved in teaching Indigenous health to medical and other health science students, and/or recruiting or supporting Indigenous medical students.

The meeting will focus on how cultural safety should be defined in an Australian medical education and health workforce context. While the conference will remain focused on curriculum and Indigenous student developments in medical schools, there will be many presentations about similar good work happening in other health science disciplines, and in the medical postgraduate councils, colleges and divisions.

LIME Connection II is being hosted by the University of New South Wales and co-hosted by other universities in the greater Sydney area.

For further details on LIME Connection II please contact Deb Knoche at dknoche@unimelb.edu.au or on (03) 8344 0720.

Late last year, and funded by two competitive grants (NHMRC Short-term Exchange, and the Universitas 21 Fellowship), Shaun was fortunate enough to visit the Division of Aboriginal Peoples Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, the Centre for Sámi Studies at Tromsø University, Norway, and the Centre for Sami Research at Umeå University, Sweden.

One of the aims of his trip was to compare the teaching of Indigenous Health in medical schools. Much was learnt at UBC about the teaching of Indigenous health to general

practice interns, and Shaun was able to present to the interns an Australian Indigenous health overview.

Tromsø’s Centre for Sámi Studies has a Master of Indigenous Studies program, and Onemda, with Tromsø, Umeå and British Columbia Universities, plans to continue to develop coursework that compares and contrasts Indigenous peoples’ experiences and responses to colonisation.

Overall, the travel provided a wealth of information, as well as the opportunity to develop Onemda’s network of friends and colleagues, which in turn will strengthen our teaching and learning perspectives locally.

Shaun’s NHMRC Short-term Exchange and Universitas 21 Fellowship

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Kyllie Cripps, Onemda Research Fellow (pictured at right), presented the Rob Riley Memorial Lecture at Curtin University late last year. Kyllie’s oration was entitled ‘Indigenous Family Violence: from moral panic to committed long-term action’ and encompassed her considerable and ongoing research into Indigenous family violence.

‘The complex and sensitive issues surrounding these massive social and cultural problems are under intense public scrutiny’, Kyllie said. ‘The moral panic arising from these issues is engendering and reinforcing demeaning stereotypes about Aboriginal people and cultures such as hysterical calls for governments to ban alcohol supply and to abolish customary law.’

Instead of such panic, what is required is an ongoing commitment to finding real solutions to Indigenous family violence. ‘As an Indigenous—Pallawa—woman and a community member I know that our responsibility and commitment can’t wane… The futures of our children depend on us acting now and the answers to many of these problems already exist… Action is being demonstrated by Indigenous communities across the country everyday.’

Kyllie is ‘proud to be walking in the footsteps of Rob Riley today. He was an inspiring leader and activist who was committed to achieving better outcomes for his community. He was highly critical of many government reports and inquiries into Aboriginal social problems, and said, “they are full of promise but nothing bloody happens”...’ That is why Kyllie is ‘calling for us to move past the rhetoric. Our solutions need to be supported by government so that we can sustain long-term committed action.’

Associate Professor Pat Dudgeon, from the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin, said Kyllie’s lecture, the most recent in a series of four such orations, was a fitting tribute to the late Rob Riley. ‘We established the Lectures to uphold the memory of one of Western Australia’s key Indigenous figures… Mr Riley was nationally acknowledged as one of the great leaders in the land rights and native title, reconciliation and stolen generation debates and his tireless work to advance social justice with non-Indigenous Australia,’ she said.

Professor Sherry Saggers from Edith Cowan University thought that Kyllie’s lecture ‘combined a scholarly overview of family violence policy development, and a holistic model for the analysis of such violence in Indigenous communities. Kyllie brought to this analysis a deep understanding of the complex factors at work, and a passion to bring about positive change in the lives of Indigenous families’.

To view the webcast of Kyllie’s lecture visit: http://gunada.curtin.edu.au/research/new.cfm

Rob Riley Memorial Lecture

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Discussion Paper 17

Discussion Paper 18Discussion Paper 16

Publications

This paper discusses In-digenous concepts of health, and traces the his-tory of an Australian health care system characterised by segregation and dis-crimination of Indigenous people. It also provides an inventory of potential per-formance measures and indicators.

The paper concludes that national health frame-works and policy performance measures are limited by the availability of appropriate quality data for re-porting. However, a national data development pro-gram to build capacity to report against all included measures over time is now possible, with commu-nity involvement in the definition and prioritising of health indicators.

This paper traces the his-tory of Indigenous health systems in Canada; de-scribes current Indige-nous health indicator sets at national, provincial/ter-ritorial and regional levels; and includes a description of barriers to effective use of Indigenous health indi-cators, with some best

practice examples. It also addresses the complex-ity of health care delivery around issues of registra-tion status of Indigenous people.

The paper found that the use of current indicators has not effectively contributed to improved health outcomes and that health researchers do not fully understand the ineffectiveness of these indicators. It also found that the largest gaps in infrastructure development are at the community and regional levels, as currently collected health information sets are of limited use in service delivery and planning.

This paper describes principal M-aori health in-dicator sets, focusing on M-aori participation in in-dicator selection and de-velopment. It also investi-gates the extent to which indicators reflect M-aori concepts of health, and describes how indicators are being used.

The paper found that M-aori health indicators, which are essentially government-driven measures in-tended to assess progress towards State-defined objectives for M-aori health, are not well aligned to M-aori concepts of health. It concludes that robust and relevant M-aori health indicator sets and health monitoring frameworks that draw on a mix of univer-sal and M-aori-specific indicators are necessary for effective policy development and service delivery.

Discussion Papers 16, 17 and 18—Measuring the Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peo-ples; M -aori Health Indicators; and First Nations, In-uit and Métis Health Indicators in Canada—are all background papers for the project ‘Action-oriented Indicators of Health and Health Systems Develop-ment for Indigenous Peoples in Australia, Canada and New Zealand’.

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Discussion Paper 18Farewell to Alexis Wright & Gregory Phillips

Alexis Wright, Deb Knoche and Gregory Phillips

Unfortunately, Onemda lost the excellent services of Alexis in March this year. Alexis brought a wealth of Community experience, ability and charm to the project and to Onemda and will be sorely missed. We are, however, pleased that she is pursuing her PhD in creative writing at Macquarie University. As you know, Alexis is an accomplished writer, with marvel-lous books like Carpentaria to her name, and we wish her all the very best with her future goals.

Deb Knoche (‘knock-eee’) joined Onemda in January as Project Officer on the Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project. Deb is an anthropologist and has four years’ experience working in the Northern Territory with Indigenous communities on Native Title. Deb also brings great Community experience, a strong commitment to Indigenous health, and a lot of good cheer! She has fast relaxed into her role, and will continue the work started by Gregory and Alexis.

You can contact Deb at dknoche@unimelb.edu.au or on (03) 8344 0720.

After four years, Gregory Phillips is leaving Onemda where he has been working with the Medical Deans Indigenous Health Project (formerly CDAMS). During his time here, Gregory delivered outstanding and ground-breaking work in reforming curriculum and other matters in Australia and New Zealand’s 19 medical schools. He also contributed effectively to our research, teaching and community development programs.

As the inaugural Chair of Onemda’s Design Team and Public Relations Committee, Gregory has also ensured style, flair and colour are hallmarks of the way Onemda does business. Ha! He is moving on to work with a broad coalition of partners on a national campaign to close the life expectancy gap between Indigneous and non-Indigenous Australians. We know Gregory will excel in his new position, just as he has done at Onemda, and are sad to see him go.

Cristina Liley is the new part-time Publications Officer for Onemda supporting the publishing activities of the Unit. These include the publication of reports, discussion papers and other material, dissemination of research, and

capacity building among students in writing and editing. Cristina holds a BA (Hons) in History, a Grad.Dip. in Editing and Publishing and a MA from The University of Melbourne in Science, Society and Communications.

You can contact Cristina by email at cliley@unimelb.edu.au or on (03) 8344 3061.

New Staff

Where you will find us:

OnemdaVicHealth Koori Health Unit

Centre for Health and SocietyLevel 4, 207 Bouverie StreetThe University of MelbourneVictoria 3010 AUSTRALIATel: + 61 3 8344 0813Fax: + 61 3 8344 0824Web: www.onemda.unimelb.edu.au Email: koori@chs.unimelb.edu.auMelways Map Reference: 2B D8

If you would like to receive our newsletters, and to be informed about the workshops, seminars and courses that we run at the Unit, please fill in this form and mail or fax it to the address below. All questions are optional but it would help us to know what aspects of our work you might be most interested in.

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Name:.........................................................Organisation:..................................................................................................................Address:................................................................................................................................................Postcode:............................Tel:(....).................Fax:(....)..........................Email:..........................................................Are you Koori? Yes No

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How would you describe your current area of work or study:................................................................................................................

Does your work/study involve any of the following: (Please tick as many as apply)Health service delivery Health policyHealth researchOther researchKoori educationOther educationKoori Community serviceOther (Please specify)..................................................................

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