Committee Secretary Department of the Senate PO Box 6100 Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Email: [email protected]

Dear Committee Secretary,

RE: Brief Submission to the Senate Inquiry into Covid-19

I am writing in response to the Senate Committees public call for submissions on the Australian Government’s response to Covid-19 pandemic (other than purely health issues) and related matters. Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative believes the Australian government hasn’t provided enough consideration with its response to Covid-19 on the impacts of , and therefore key issues have been overlooked and not been incorporated into the overall government’s response. Further, despite numerous submissions to various government departments and agencies, we have received little response to our identified issues.

Covid-19 Coordination Committee As a related matter I noticed that the Covid-19 Coordination Committee doesn’t have any representation from the Aboriginal Community Controlled Sector to ensure there is a cultural lens that can ensure the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are appropriately meet. As part of our brief submission it demonstrates that if Aboriginal people are not part of the decision making, design and coordination than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have increased issues of access to essential services that are available to all Australians. Wathaurong asks the Senate to ensure appropriate representation of all groups, not just big business and alike, are part of such important coordination committees. Below Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative Limited provides the following for your review and consideration.

What I have learnt since the Covid-19 pandemic commenced is that you certainly feel your place in society as an Aboriginal person and organisation and we have felt that we have been pushed to the back of the bus. Even in better times Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face

WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD ABN 26 564 626 453 LOT 62, MORGAN STREET, NORTH 3215 * PO Box 402, NORTH GEELONG 3215

challenges on a daily basis and in these pandemic times accessing essential services that are available to all Australian has been even more difficult. I wrote a letter to the National Indigenous Australian Agency (see attached) seeking a response and support for Covid-19 in March 2020.

Wathaurong identified seven key areas that needed additional financial support for us to be able to respond appropriately to Covid-19. Below are examples of our experiences in preparation and whilst in isolation of Covid-19:

• Food Security The Australian government announced that it was working with the Red Cross as part of a food security initiative. Wathaurong contacted Red Cross to assist in the coordination of food packages for 600 local Aboriginal community members that we had identified as in need. We were told by management that this couldn’t happen and that each individual person had to go online and fill in the registration form. There was no consideration by the Australian government or Red Cross that Aboriginal people don’t have access to the internet or computers or if they had phone credit and data to fulfil this request, which is why we contacted Red Cross in the first instance. This demonstrates when governments and NGO’s such as Red Cross fail to partner appropriately with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agencies, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people miss out on such essential services.

• Housing Security Housing security for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is crucial if Australian governments want to Close the Gap and achieve the targets that are currently in place. With job loses housing security becomes a major issue for all private renters however for Aboriginal people even more so. Within the Wathaurong region there are 1511 Aboriginal households of which 27% (408) are renting privately. Wathaurong identified 80 Aboriginal families requiring financial support as a preventative measure of increasing homelessness and increasing contacts with Child Protection agencies for those families with children. Wathaurong has a private rental assistance scheme which can only provide support to a limited amount of our community members due to funding restraints however provided an existing platform that the Commonwealth government could use to support.

• Education for ages 3-18 years

WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD ABN 26 564 626 453 LOT 62, MORGAN STREET, NORTH GEELONG 3215 * PO Box 402, NORTH GEELONG 3215

As part of the Commonwealth Closing the Gap targets, Early Years and High Education Attainment are seen as key to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. During the Covid-19 Pandemic Wathaurong identified that 200 individuals and families that required laptops, ipads and a 12-month subscription to ensure all our Aboriginal children were able to participate in the On-line learning that was being provided by Education institutions. We were also seeking tutoring services to support parents and children with home schooling during the Covid-19 isolation period.

• Family Violence Men’s Accommodation Centre Wathaurong has an existing 4 bed-room house which we were offering to become a Men’s Accommodation Centre particularly since there are limited accommodation places for men in Geelong. As a preventative measure we were seeking financial support for refurbishment and operations for the Accommodation Centre to be able to rapidly respond to increases of family violence during the isolation period.

• Flexible Brokerage Funding for Aboriginal Families, NDIS and Aged Care NDIS and Aged Care packages depend on the provider and again as part of our preparations for Covid-19 we contacted NDIS seeking “What are NDIS offering Aboriginal people, particularly during this period of additional hardship resulting from Covid-19”, the response we received was “unfortunately at this stage, NIDS are not aware of anything specific to Aboriginal participants that is offered by the NDIS participants” which was outlined on their website. The Jobseeker payments excluded Carers of NDIS and Aged Care recipients and therefore increased the hardships that our Aboriginal families were facing. Our solution is additional funding as part of a Flexible Brokerage scheme that could support families with issues of financial, housing and food security issues.

• Access to Afterhours GP Clinics Wathaurong currently engages with a local GP After hours clinic as part of our existing service delivery. As part of our preparations for Covid-19 Isolation period, we contacted the provider to try and ascertain if they would still be providing such a service during this period. Our calls for a response were unanswered and we had to provide an unfunded GP After Hours services which costs the organisation $5,000 per week; over 12 weeks the total unfunded cost is $60,000. The Chief Medical Officers were advising the Australian public to see their local GP’s as part of the chronic disease management which would prevent

WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD ABN 26 564 626 453 LOT 62, MORGAN STREET, NORTH GEELONG 3215 * PO Box 402, NORTH GEELONG 3215

avoidable hospitalisations, however if the public can’t access GP services when needed this becomes an issue and particularly for Aboriginal people who have multiple health concerns and are at increased risk of hospitalisation.

• Covid-19 Isolation and impacts of Mental Health and Social Emotional Wellbeing Wathaurong had found an increase of Aboriginal clients and patients seeking Mental Health and Social Emotional Wellbeing support during the Covid-19 Isolation period. In response we sought funding to establish a telehealth service which would provide cold calling or referral services where required. What we have been able to establish is around 50% of all patients required support for financial, food and housing security along with support for dealing with difficult behaviours of children and teenagers.

BACKGROUND Covid-19 Response for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people The Australian Parliament and Commonwealth governments are well aware of the serious nature a pandemic such as Covid-19 can have on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as these issues have been documented over the last ten years through the Prime Minister’s Closing the Gap Reports. The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) through the leadership of Pat Turner AM had been fortunate to reach agreement with Ministers to close remote communities and source $5 mil to establish testing clinics across their membership of 302 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations nationally, a good preventative start. However, this doesn’t go far enough and demonstrates there are some communities that would simply miss out. For your noting, private pathology providers don’t collect identifying information such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons and therefore the government public health contract tracing methods are unable to inform how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been tested let alone tested positive, unless the tests are conducted through an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation.

Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative is located in Geelong which has been in the top 5 Local Government Area (LGA) for positive Covid-19 for the last 8 weeks and therefore should have been seen as an area of priority to ensure we were able to provide the required services due to the increased demand. Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative and local Aboriginal community members have been experiencing available access issues to essential services due to Covid-19 restrictions

WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD ABN 26 564 626 453 LOT 62, MORGAN STREET, NORTH GEELONG 3215 * PO Box 402, NORTH GEELONG 3215

Related Matters to Covid-19 pandemic Although the federal government had announced stimulus packages for Covid-19 there hasn’t been any Aboriginal-specific targeted stimulus packages that support the needs of our local communities to address the social determinants of health such as:

• Housing security • Financial security • Food security • Health and wellbeing • Early Childhood • Family Violence • Education • Justice

Wathaurong had written a letter (see attached) to the National Indigenous Australian’s Agency requesting stimulus support which has gone unanswered. The NIAA is supposed to be the national body that supports the needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and yet has failed to provide such support in a time that is most needed. The NIAA also has taken on the responsibility of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) which in our opinion provided this agency with the ability to provide direct advice and support to each of its Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations that they contract manage.

Recommendations: 1. That the Australian government ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation such as the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) is part of the membership for the Covid-19 Coordination Committee.

2. That the Australian government develop an Aboriginal-specific stimulus package that address not only the preventative health measures responding to Covid-19, but also include and be responsive to social determinants such as financial, food, housing security

WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD ABN 26 564 626 453 LOT 62, MORGAN STREET, NORTH GEELONG 3215 * PO Box 402, NORTH GEELONG 3215

issues, family violence and early childhood of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including NDIS and Aged Care recipients.

3. Improved response and advocacy from the National Agency (NIAA) as the government’s lead agency for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; this includes our people living in urban and regional areas fn the Covid-19 Pandemic.

4. That Australian government departments ensure that they engage with Aboriginal organisations such as the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation as part of the design for pandemic stimulus packages to ensure that they are culturally appropriate, available and accessible to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is relevant for all government departments, especially the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Education and Training.

In closing, I would be happy to speak to the Senate Committee further regarding the contents of this letter as a local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation and have provided my contact details as part of this submission.

Regards

Lisa Briggs Chief Executive Officer

WATHAURONG ABORIGINAL CO-OPERATIVE LTD ABN 26 564 626 453 LOT 62, MORGAN STREET, NORTH GEELONG 3215 * PO Box 402, NORTH GEELONG 3215