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  • 7 hours ago
A new funding package to tackle high lead levels among children in Broken Hill is being rolled out in the Silver City over the next four years. But some say the newly announced measures don't go far enough, especially for Indigenous children.

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00:01At just two years old, Avaya is a seasoned patient.
00:06You're very brave.
00:07The toddler's highest reading was more than five times the national level that triggers
00:13investigation and support.
00:15It's horrible.
00:16Even me, I'm 29 years old now, and I have a childhood.
00:21I have learning difficulties.
00:23I'm worried about my kids now.
00:25The latest data shows 35% of young children in Broken Hill and 56% of Aboriginal children
00:34have blood lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter.
00:39The New South Wales government has announced a funding package of $37 million, which among
00:45other measures will double the number of homes remediated.
00:49You know, whilst it's a big investment, we think it's being targeted at the wrong areas,
00:53you know, particularly for Aboriginal children.
00:55Where there are clusters where we know there are high levels, and that would particularly
00:58be in the case of some of the Aboriginal housing in Broken Hill, that that will go to the top
01:03of the list.
01:04Lead has been mined in this city since the late 1880s and has contaminated some of the
01:09dirt children play in.
01:10Many end up ingesting those lead particles through their unwashed hands.
01:15That's why education campaigns like this one feature prominently.
01:19Whether you're Indigenous, Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal, your lead levels will lower with education
01:26and doing what is required to reduce lead in the home.
01:31I have that much knowledge of lead, it didn't stop any of my kids getting high leads.
01:35Like, I wash their hands, they eat fruit and vegetables, they eat meat, like it didn't
01:39stop it.
01:40A far-reaching problem that's just as complex to solve.
01:49What can you make of this?
01:50I'm going to play about that later.
01:50You know, a little bit more, but I might have seen like this.
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