Pubdate: Wed, 31 May 2000 Source: Canberra Times (Australia) Copyright: 2000 Canberra Times Contact: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/ Author: Catriona Jackson, Health Reporter ABORIGINAL GROUP CALLS FOR ACTION ON DRUGS Australia's peak Aboriginal health body issued an impassioned call in Canberra yesterday for action on drug and alcohol abuse. Indigenous people were sick of getting a "hug here and there" instead of the means to fix the crippling problem of drug and alcohol abuse, the chairman of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Puggy Hunter, said. Launching the Substance Misuse Plan, he said it was time to stop dreaming up solutions in Canberra and Sydney and imposing them on communities. This kind of approach had led to real waste, with "some stupid programs" running that had no health impact. He said, "we are very keen to be in control of our future" and that meant determining what the dollars would be best spent on. Aboriginal people were sick of burying their children. The organisation's chief executive officer, Craig Ritchie, said action needed money, and that it agreed with the recently issued report from Australian National University professor John Deeble, who said $245 million a year was needed to redress the imbalance in health spending between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Action needed money, and without extra funding none of the organisation's plans could get under way. Mr Hunter said that drinking could not just be addressed by "taking away the grog", a broader approach, which acknowledged the reasons for drug and alcohol abuse, was needed. Among the priorities were: more support people in the communities, more Aboriginal health workers and more places close to home for people to go when they were sick. The organisation had broken off from the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Commission because there was simply not enough funding to go around. However, applying for funds direct from the Government meant that NACCHO spent more time "chasing dollars" than getting on with the job. By the time an Aborigine got to a hospital it was almost always too late. Health had to be dealt with by primary health carers, based in the communities, and priorities needed to be set by people on the ground, who knew what was going on. The way the Commonwealth handed out funding all the parts of the body were being treated separately, which meant that some would start falling off, Mr Hunter said. The chairman of the Prime Minister's key drug advisory body, the Australian National Council on Drugs, Major Brian Watters, expressed support for the idea of empowering local communities to deal with their own drug problems. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D