Wednesday, 4 October 2023

 Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (09:55): Recently I had the opportunity to meet with Brenda Newman, who leads the Lower Hume Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Program at Goranwarrabul House in Seymour. Brenda and her team are doing an outstanding job but, sadly, have a pressing need for urgent funding and resources. The service is providing food support to more than 40 households each week, with Taungurung and Yorta Yorta families travelling more than an hour to lean on this incredible community program. Among other essential services, the house provides dentistry, optometry and complex mental health support to the Hume region’s Aboriginal communities. We also have a local Koori engagement officer responsible for 150 students across 18 schools. This is an unsustainable workload and is seeing our most vulnerable Aboriginal students slip through the cracks. The team also emphasise the necessity of establishing an Aboriginal liaison officer within hospitals in the region. This is currently delivered by Ms Newman as a volunteer who attends hospitals to support Aboriginal community members in need of a culturally safe environment for care. This role would be instrumental in guaranteeing culturally appropriate medical care, providing maternal child health support and effectively managing complex mental health matters as well as NDIS advocacy.