Aboriginal Elder Receives Australia Day Honour for 40 Years of Community Service; Community She Served Has No Doctor

AUSTRALIA – An Aboriginal Elder was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) on Australia Day for more than forty years of service to her community – service that has included founding a language revitalisation program, advocating for women’s health, providing cultural liaison between her community and health services, supporting families through the child protection system and serving on the boards of three Aboriginal community organisations. She was described in the official citation as a “remarkable woman” and a “cornerstone of her community.” Her community has not had a permanent GP for sixteen months.

The community in question is among the approximately 200 remote and regional Aboriginal communities across Australia with no consistent access to primary health care. GP vacancies in remote Aboriginal communities are not addressable by community members alone; they require Medicare incentives, housing for health workers, professional support infrastructure, and the kind of sustained investment in rural and remote health that has been recommended in every rural health review since the mid-1990s. The Elder’s OAM citation does not mention that the services she provides have (in part) compensated for the absence of GP services that the government has not filled. She has been compensating for this absence for forty years. She received an award for it. The vacancy continues.

The Minister for Health released a statement congratulating all Australia Day honour recipients. The statement did not mention the GP vacancy. The Elder accepted her award graciously and returned to her community the following day. Her community is grateful for the award. Her community still has no doctor.