Thread: some context re this citation for Tony Abbott: "For eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as Prime Minister, and through significant contributions to trade, border control, and to the Indigenous community" gg.gov.au/sites/default/…
A @CroakeyNews article from Sept 2014: Indigenous leaders plea to PM Abbott to step in on “chaotic” policy, funding environment croakey.org/indigneous-lea…
The article cites this statement from Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander orgs: nacchocommunique.com/2014/09/04/ple… "Budget cuts to Indigenous Affairs were impairing the ability of community-controlled organisations to deliver frontline services...
...in critical areas such as legal assistance, family violence, children, youth & women, drug & alcohol misuse, & health." The Close the Gap Steering Committee also urged a re-think on Abbott Govt's Budget cuts to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander anti-smoking programs
Another article from 2014 giving overview of impacts of Abbott Govt cuts on health, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health: croakey.org/the-health-wra…
Still in 2014, yet more cuts to health from the Abbott Govt: croakey.org/myefo-budget-u…
Read more from @VACCHO_org in 2016: croakey.org/healthelection… "The framing & implementation of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy indicates the Coalition Govt’s profound lack of understanding of the social determinants of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people"
Here is @drcbond in 2015: ‘Unfair and arbitrary. Is the only thing new in the Indigenous Advancement Strategy a new round of a massive funding cuts?’ croakey.org/unfair-and-arb…
2014 was a terrible year for health policy in Australia; so much slashing and burning croakey.org/new-senate-rep…
So much so that in 2014, a senior medical academic envisaged that this might be a newspaper headline in 2025: ‘ABBOTT AND HOCKEY APPEAR BEFORE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO PREMATURE DEATHS CAUSED BY THE FALLOUT OF THE 2014 BUDGET’ croakey.org/inequality-is-…
In 2015, a coalition of 17 peak & NGOs from the health and community sectors called on the Australian Government to scrap plans to cut nearly $800 million in funding to key health initiatives croakey.org/organisations-…
In Sept 2014, we cross-published this article from @ConversationEDU by Assoc Prof Jim Gillespie : Abbott Government’s first year in office: what’s the verdict on health? croakey.org/abbott-govts-f… RTs from this to follow...
"The Coalition entered the 2013 federal election without a health policy. After a year in government, it remains without one. While there has been activity in the health arena, there’s been little coherent direction.
"The government’s first month was spent on an ideological campaign against agencies identified with the “nanny state”. The Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia (established by the Holt government in 1966), for instance, was axed.
"The Australian National Preventive Health Agency, which had long been a target for conservative critics, was a more expected casualty. It lost its funding in the Abbott government’s first budget, its functions disappearing within the Department of Health.
"The National Partnership Agreement on Prevention with the states was also discarded. Abbott’s small-target election strategy left health with few promises other than the assurance that his would be a “no surprises, no excuses government”.
"In practice, health has become the largest arena for apparent broken promises and unexpected surprises.
In a debate nine days before the election, Abbott declared:
"We are not shutting any Medicare Locals." [Well, we all know how that went...
In a debate nine days before the election, Abbott declared:
"We are not shutting any Medicare Locals." [Well, we all know how that went...
The article concluded: "Tony Abbott is the first Australian prime minister to have previously served as minister for health. So it’s strange that his government’s forays in this complex and politically dangerous area have been so badly managed and poorly explained..."
And some more background & context to Abbott Govt's health cuts in this 2018 article for @insidestorymag insidestory.org.au/the-politics-o… #RewriteTheCitation
