AMA President and Health Minister throw healthy support behind the Voice
Professor Robson joined Mark Butler and other leaders in Perth this week to outline the beneficial health outcomes of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
AMA President Professor Steve Robson was in Perth earlier this week and joined Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler and leaders including former Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt to talk about the positive health benefits for Indigenous Australians arising from the Voice.
Speaking at the media event, Minister Butler said he “cannot think of an area of policy where that Voice will be more valuable and more important and deliver better outcomes than in health”.
Minister Butler said despite years of talk the gap in health outcomes was in many cases worsening and that a new approach was needed.
“As Steve Robson knows better than anyone, a good doctor, a good health care professional, listens carefully and deeply to their patient to get the best outcomes and we know that that will deliver better policy outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” he said.
Professor Robson lent his support for the Voice based on the improved outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health.
“As a doctor of many decades, one of the things that absolutely breaks my heart is the disparity in health outcomes between First Nations Australians, and other Australians, and as we've heard from the minister about the differences in the length of the life, in the burden of ill health that people carry with them,” Professor Robson said.
“This is something that, as has been pointed out, is not getting better, and we need to look to new ways to make sure that we can improve the life and health of so many First Nations Australians. It's been an absolute honour, an absolute privilege to come here this morning and see the incredible work that's being done.
“And I think Australians are thinking later this year, “how should I vote?” And if health is important to you as it is to me, then you need look no further than these community controlled health organisations that provide a culturally safe, sensitive way of providing care. When we look around at the care that's provided here, you get a sense of how giving a voice to First Nations Australians in the way that health is delivered to them, has the potential to bring enormous outcomes exactly as we've seen here today. So, my spirits have been lifted by seeing the work that's done here. It's inspiring. The people that work here are so skilled and dedicated. And giving a voice to First Nations Australians to be able to instil and bring policy like this to health across the country, is something that I think has the potential to deliver extraordinary outcomes for people.”
