Dr Hambleton, launch of AMA Indigenous Report Card, Parliament House

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

Assistant Minister for Health Senator Nash, Members, Senators, media representatives, special guests, ladies and gentlemen.

The AMA Indigenous Health Report Card is one of the most significant pieces of work produced by the AMA.

It gives us great pride.  It matters.  It makes a difference.

We have been producing these Report Cards for over a decade now, and each time we focus on a different aspect of Indigenous health – children’s health, primary care, funding, men’s health, or inequity of access.

We come at it from all angles.

We do not pretend to have all the solutions to the many health problems that confront Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.

But the AMA recognises and acknowledges the problems and we want to help fix them.

Our Report Cards are a catalyst for thinking, and hopefully a catalyst for action.

This year we are focusing on the early years of life.

It is the right of every Australian child to have the best start in life - but in Australia today not every child benefits from this right.

In their early years, children need to be safe, have adequate opportunities for growth and development, and have access to adequate health, child development, and education services.

Many of our children are missing out, but none more so than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

There have been some improvements in recent years with many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children making a successful transition to healthy adult life.

But there are still far too many who are being raised in community and family environments that are marked by severe early childhood adversity.

This adversity in early life can affect educational and social functioning in later life, and can increase the risk of chronic illness.

Without intervention, these problems can be transmitted from one generation to the next – and the cycle continues.

I know it is still early in the day but I would like to introduce a big word to explain this cycle – epigenetics.

Epigenetics is all about how early life experiences become hard-wired into the body, with life-long effects on health and wellbeing.

Early experiences can influence which of a person’s genes are activated and de-activated and, consequently, how the brain and the body develop.

Building and providing stable and healthy life experiences in the early years can help break the cycle of adversity.

That is our task and our challenge.

Good nutrition, responsive care and psychosocial stimulation can have powerful protective benefits to improve longer-term health and wellbeing.

Strong culture and strong identity are also central to healthy early development.

The costs to individuals, families, and society of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children failing to reach their developmental potential continue to be substantial.

“Robust and properly targeted and sustained investment in healthy early childhood development is one of the keys to breaking the cycle of ill health and premature death among Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders.

We are seeing improvements through government commitment and cooperation on closing the gap initiatives, but much more action is needed.

It is crucial for the momentum to be sustained by renewing the COAG National Partnership Agreements on Indigenous Health and on Indigenous Early Childhood Development for another five years.

The AMA makes several recommendations in the Report Card, including:

·        a national plan for expanded comprehensive maternal and child services;

·        the extension of the Australian Nurse Family Partnership Program of home visiting to more centres;

·        support for families at risk with interventions to protect infants and young children from neglect, abuse and family violence;

·        efforts to reduce the incarceration of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders;

·        efforts to improve the access of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders to the benefits of the economy, especially employment and entrepreneurship;

·        efforts to keep children at school;

·        building a strong sense of cultural identity and self-worth;

·        improving the living environment with better housing, clean water, sanitation facilities, and conditions that contribute to safe and healthy living; and

·        better data, research and evaluation culturally appropriate measures of early childhood development and wellbeing.

We have also highlighted some examples of programs that are already being successful at improving the early years of Indigenous children.

There is the Darwin Midwifery Group Practice, the Aboriginal Family Birthing Program in South Australia, and the NSW Intensive Family Support Service are just a few.

Our governments – individually and through COAG – must examine these programs, learn from them, and replicate them where possible.

Our governments must also look at the Abecedarian approach to early childhood development.

This involves a suite of high quality teaching and learning strategies to improve later life outcomes for children from at-risk and under-resourced families.

It is being used to great effect at the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress in Alice Springs.

The AMA believes the Abecedarian approach has a strong track record of success and we urge all governments to have a closer look for possible widespread implementation.

There are some incredible things happening out there in communities all around Australia.

Our Report Card shines a bright light on what needs to be done to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in their important early years of life.

It also brings together some of the great work that is already happening to make a difference.

Importantly, it defines a challenge for all of us – governments, the medical profession, the health and education sectors, and the broader community – to give these kids and their families a healthier life.

I now ask the Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Fiona Nash, to say a few words and officially launch our Report Card.

Thank you.