Manual of Resources for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention
In 2017 the Australian Government established the National Suicide Prevention Leadership and Support Program, funding projects to reduce suicide and suicidal behaviour. One objective was to build the capacity of Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to lead regional suicide prevention service planning and commissioning.
In July 2020 the National Agreement on Closing the Gap was signed by Australian governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (the Coalition of Peaks).
The Royal Australian College of Physicians (specialist doctors) does not include Indigenous health among its current 15 policy and advocacy priorities.
The AMA has an extensive body of policy statements and submissions in relation to the health of Aboriginal people.
The Australian Association of Social Workers has not published any recent policy or position papers specifically related to Indigenous wellbeing, but the needs of Aboriginal people feature prominently in many of its broader platforms.
The Australian College of Emergency Medicine, which represents emergency department doctors, notes that Indigenous people use Emergency Departments almost twice as frequently as non-Indigenous people – representing 3 per cent of the population but 5.6 per cent of ED visits.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has a Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Its Council is chaired by Wiradjuri man Associate Professor Peter O’Mara and includes GPs and representatives from NACCHO and AIDA.
The APS promotes its advocacy on Indigenous issues; among its public actions it has made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and funded a bursary for Indigenous psychology students.
The RANZCP’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Committee includes Indigenous psychiatrists, non-Indigenous psychiatrists who work closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, and Indigenous community members who work in mental health service provision and policy development.
The Coalition of Peaks is made up of more than 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak and member organisations across Australia that have come together as an act of self-determination to work with Australian governments on a new National Agreement on Closing the Gap, agreed in 2020.