00:00The Aboriginal community-controlled sector in Victoria, we have 33 Aboriginal organisations
00:09based around the state, and 33 of those organisations provide vital services to their local Aboriginal
00:17communities.
00:18And we've been doing that for over 70 years, and, you know, they have proven track records.
00:27The evidence shows that the services they deliver work, but the report, as you said, highlights
00:37the infrastructure, the lack of quality infrastructure in our sector, and there's some stark data that
00:47highlights those issues.
00:50And we really would love the government to take that report seriously and start working
00:58on how we address those needs.
01:00The report found 98% of the sector's buildings are culturally unsafe.
01:08What do you mean by that, and how can that be improved?
01:10So what I mean by culturally unsafe is the building itself is culturally unsafe.
01:16For example, if they were purpose-built buildings, we would ensure that we have cultural elements
01:27embedded in the design, such as bigger waiting areas, because our mob attend these services,
01:35not just as individuals, but they attend as families.
01:41We would have a connection to the outdoors, which is more culturally appropriate for Aboriginal
01:47people.
01:48We would have men's and women's business that would reflect the design of the building.
01:55That's what we mean when we talk about culturally unsafe infrastructure.
02:01Instead, our organisations have these old rickety buildings that have never had any injection of
02:10resources to the degree that they need to make them safe, and we're at crisis stage.
02:21How important is having fit-for-purpose facilities when it comes particularly to health outcomes?
02:29Oh, it is very important.
02:33It is vital to have the fit-for-purpose, but at this stage, most of our organisations are
02:40not fit-for-purpose, so there are some urgent cases in that report that need immediate attention,
02:50and one of them is the Dandenong and District Aboriginal Co-op, where just before Christmas last year,
02:58we actually had to shut that building down because no-one could live in it, let alone work in it.
03:07And it had asbestos, that's how old it is.
03:11And no government is taking responsibility for our health infrastructure needs, and we need
03:19to ensure that governments do take responsibility.
03:24So you're calling for a funding boost as a result of this report to improve the infrastructure.
03:30Can you take me through what some of the upgrades that you're looking to do are?
03:34You mentioned there the asbestos situation is obviously one of them.
03:39And how much funding are you in need of?
03:42Okay.
03:43So the report goes through a number of recommendations, and there's some recommendations in there that
03:49we need, I think roughly, I think it was around about 30 million that we're asking for, for emergency upgrades.
03:58And then we're asking for the overall, 150 million would start us off.
04:06And then to maintain the integrity of our infrastructure, we're also asking for a perpetual infrastructure
04:14fund to make sure that we don't go down this road again, so it's sustainable.
04:22And just finally, where does the funding overall come from when it comes to the Aboriginal Community Controlled Services?
04:32Well, that's a very good question, Mel.
04:35Where does the funding come?
04:37The Commonwealth provides some small grants, but that's not for big infrastructure works.
04:49That's small grants, small upgrades.
04:52And the organisation that I spoke about before, DDACL, just before we had to shut it down,
04:58they received a 300,000 grant from governments.
05:02And the tradies that came in said, sorry, we can't touch this building, it's going to fall down.
05:08So there are some urgent ones that we need a big investment, and there are some minor ones,
05:14and then we need to maintain that infrastructure.
05:17All right, Jill Gallagher from the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation,
05:21thank you so much for your time.
05:23Thank you, Mel.
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