Senator Deborah ONeill

Senator for New South Wales

Chair of the Senate Select Committee for Health

Senator the Hon. Doug Cameron

Senator for New South Wales
Shadow Minister for Human Services

Senator the Hon. Jan McLucas

Senator for Queensland
Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness
Shadow Minister for Mental Health

Senator Nova Peris OAM

Senator for Northern Territory

APPALLING LIVING CONDITIONS FOR ELCHO ISLAND RESIDENTS WILL GET WORSE
WITH FURTHER BUDGET CUTS
The Senate Select Committee on Health has witnessed the inhumane and appalling conditions suffered by
residents of Elcho Island. The Abbott Governments $534.4 million cuts to indigenous programs, including $165
million in health funding will make what is an appalling situation even more dire.
The Committee, chaired by Senator Deborah ONeill, has heard evidence this week that in some cases up to 30
family members have been forced to share small three bedroom houses in the wake of cyclones Lam and Nathan.
The Abbott Government has slashed Indigenous funding, and this is the reality that is left behind for local
communities to deal with on Elcho Island.
What Tony Abbott calls budget repair are merely austerity measures which cause community suffering in
communities like Elcho Island, Senator ONeill said.
Experts have told the Committee that the effects of cyclone Lam in February and cyclone Nathan in March this year
are still being felt by locals who have lost their homes as a result of these damaging storms, adding to the burden
of disease and mental health distress. Many of those people have been forced to live in tents as a result.
Dr Kylie Strate, principal GP at the Ngalkanbuy Health Service, told the Committee that the availability of adequate
housing stock and the provision of safe and functional housing were critical to restoring public health.
We have elderly patients living in tents who cant walk to the bathroom at night because theres no lighting and so
they are getting urinary tract infections. Weve got people who are up in Darwin because theyve got no power in
their house to run their home oxygen or dialysis machines.
Were looking at a three year period of time for the current level of housing to be restored let alone improvement
to housing stocks and chronic conditions are not going to improve for that period of time, Dr Strate told the
committee.
Senator Doug Cameron described the conditions as appalling and unlike anything he had ever seen.
With more than 500 people still homeless as a result of these cyclones, and 300 of those people living in tents,
three years to simply return to pre-cyclone levels of housing is completely and absolutely unacceptable.
What is immediately needed is the restoration of the lost housing stock, but more importantly, the people of Elcho
Island need more houses to avoid further health complications in the community in future, Senator Cameron said.
Dr Strate told the Committee that Elcho island residents are now suffering diseases which are usually only seen in
the developing world.
Scabies is a skin infection caused by a mite or parasite spread by contact, its a condition of low socio-economic
circumstances caused by over-crowding and poor hygiene. Scabies is endemic in this community.
When you have 10, 20, or 30 people living in a three bedroom home its difficult to near impossible to eradicate
scabies, Dr Strate said.

Senator for Northern Territory Nova Peris showed her colleagues just what living conditions were like for locals on
Elcho Island and what happens when budgets are cut and programs and skilled workers are ripped away.
It is hard to imagine that the approach taken by the Northern Territory and Abbott Governments to disaster
recovery on Elcho Island would be tolerated in any other community in Australia.
Indigenous Australians in remote and regional Australia deserve treatment of the same standard as every other
Australian community which has faced natural disaster. Continuing on as we are will just lead to more death and
disease, Senator Peris said.
Senator Jan McLucas called for more action to be taken to restore and rebuild the Elcho Island community and to
address concerns raised by the AMA about the impact of climate change on the patterns and rates of diseases
such as malaria, diarrhea and cardio-respiratory problems.
Every Australian would be moved by what we have seen and heard here in the Northern Territory this week, and
would be appalled to see that more hasnt been done to rebuild after the cyclones.
My fellow Senators and I call on the Abbott and Northern Territory Governments to immediately coordinate a long
term Elcho Island health and climate change plan to assist one of Australias most remote communities, Senator
McLucas said.
The immediate and long term health challenges of the risks posed by changing weather patterns on Elcho Island
and by climate change generally must be addressed by:
-

Building sufficient cyclone rated accommodation for needs of the community

Increasing the number of doctors and other health professionals, including aboriginal health workers, for
treatment and prevention of systemic health problems

Developing a knowledge management system to ensure the recovery lessons are documented and
available for future use.

Using the challenges of recovery and the impacts climate change as an opportunity to create employment
opportunities and skill development in the local community.

Link to AMA article

http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2015/04/30/4226722.htm
For more information about this enquiry visit
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Health
END
1 May 2015
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