VACCHO’s 2022 Federal Election Priorities

May 13, 2022

VACCHO advocates for strength-based approaches to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Our federal election platform is based on our guiding principles of Culture and Kinship, Our Choice Our Way, and Knowledge and Innovation.

VACCHO calls on all major parties to consider the following recommendations in order to strengthen the health and wellbeing outcomes of all Aboriginal communities:

    • Improve access to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data, and facilitate the repatriation of sovereign Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data sets to build an evidence base platform to inform policy reform measures to further improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
    • Immediately invest in expanding and improving infrastructure of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to further enhance service delivery.
    • Immediate investment in addressing Aboriginal health workforce shortages.
    • Improve access to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) plans & funded supports, whilst enhancing capability to increase the utilisation of supports outlined in existing NDIS plans for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people living with disability and/or mental health disorders.
    • Reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home-care (OoHC)
    • Raise the Age of criminal responsibility across the Commonwealth from 10 to 14 years of age.
    • A new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care pathway.
    • Expand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Assessment Services.
    • Longer term block funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander aged care services.
    • Lower the age to access the pension for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Read more in our election platform here.

Media enquiries

For further media enquiries please email communications@vaccho.org.au or contact our media unit on (03) 9411 9411.

Background 

VACCHO is the peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing in Victoria – the only one of its kind – with 33 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations as Members. VACCHO Members support over 65,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria, and combined are the largest employers of Aboriginal people in the state.