If you're an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian and have a Health Care Card, you may get prescription medicines at a lower price or free.
You are eligible if: you self-identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian. your GP believes you would have setbacks in preventing or managing a medical condition if you don't take the medicine. you are unlikely to take your medicine if it's full price.
The CTG PBS Co-payment program was established in July 2010 to improve access to affordable PBS medicines for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with, or at risk of, chronic disease, and who in their doctor's opinion would experience setbacks in the prevention or ongoing management of chronic disease ...
Taking into account the $300 million allocated for Indigenous housing and the $177 million underspend in 2021–22, the October 2022–23 Budget provides $1.1 billion more than the March 2022–23 Budget for Indigenous Australians-related matters, averaging $4.2 billion per year over the forward estimates.
The New South Wales Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme provides ex-gratia payments of $75,000 to living Stolen Generations survivors who were removed from their families and committed to the care of the New South Wales Aborigines Protection or Welfare Boards.
In 2018–19, the median gross adjusted household income per week among Indigenous Australians aged 18 and over was $553, after adjusting for household size and age profile.
Traditional Aboriginal medical treatment includes bush medicines, the traditional healer, singing/chanting, and external remedies. Two of the most common diagnoses are the presence of foreign objects in the body and that there is something wrong with a body organ.
According to Evelin most Aboriginal medical treatments were derived from food. “A big part of maintaining their health was just eating right,” she says. When Aboriginal people did fall sick, they used plants in a variety of ways to quell their ills.
At the end of the June quarter of 2016, around 45% of Indigenous Australians aged 15 and over (220,800 people) were receiving some form of Centrelink income support payment, compared with 26% of non-Indigenous Australians of this age (4.9 million people).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Indigenous holding entities don't need to pay income tax or capital gains tax on native title payments or benefits.
You must provide a signed statutory declaration from yourself and either a: statutory declaration completed by an APS employee who is also an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or both.
Some NSW public dental services have specific programs for Aboriginal people. Contact your local clinic to find out more. Children 2-17 years old may also be eligible for some basic free dental care through the Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS).
We ask everyone coming to our hospital if they are from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. This is because we can offer you services that can provide you cultural support through your care.
'”Aboriginal health” means not just the physical well-being of an individual but refers to the social, emotional and cultural well-being of the whole Community in which each individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being thereby bringing about the total well-being of their Community.
Ngangkari are Aboriginal traditional healers from the Western Desert in Central Australia, which includes the Pitjantjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra and Yankunytjatjara peoples. The Ngangkari members of ANTAC come from different communities in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankuntjatjara Lands.
Effect on First Nations peoples
The spread of smallpox was followed by influenza, measles, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. First Nations peoples had no resistance to these diseases, all of which brought widespread death.
"Western medicine looks at the body from a mechanistic perspective, whereas healers highlight everyone has a spirit that intimately links to the body and emotions," knows Francesca Panzironi, founder and CEO of ANTAC, Australia's first organisation of Aboriginal traditional healers (see below).
Provides access to Medicare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. You can identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian by completing the Medicare Voluntary Indigenous Identifier form.
One Nation NSW has proposed to abolish self-identification and introduce a “new system” relying on DNA ancestry testing with a result requiring a finding of at least 25 per cent "Indigenous" before First Nations identification is accepted.
Coronary heart disease, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases and lung and related cancers are the main causes of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency funds projects aimed at helping Indigenous Australians. Funding is allocated through: the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS), National Partnership Agreements, Special Accounts and Special Appropriations.
From 1 July 2023, Age Pension age will be 67 years, if you were born on or after 1 January 1957.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights and interests in land are formally recognised over around 50 per cent of Australia's land mass. Connection to land is of central importance to First Nations Australians.