The industrial and professional organisation for nurses and midwives in Australia
Canberra Office
Unit 3, 28 Eyre Street Kingston ACT 2604 Australia
PO Box 4239 Kingston ACT 2604 Australia
(T) + 61 2 6232 6533 (F) + 61 2 6232 6610
anfcanberra@anf.org.au
Melbourne Office
Level 1, 365 Queen Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
(T ) + 61 3 9602 8500 (F) + 61 3 9602 8567
anfmelbourne@anf.org.au
ANF Journals
Australian Nursing Journal
Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing
anj@anf.org.au ajan@anf.org.au
ABN 41 816 898 298
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6AM 2 APRIL 2009
2 April 2009
MEDIA RELEASE
Close the gap and reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the NT
The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) calls on the Rudd Labor Government to reinstate
the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), suspended by the Howard government, and boost the
health care workforce in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory on national
Close the Gap day (April 2).
“There is no apparent benefit to the health of Indigenous communities in maintaining the
suspension of the RDA. The United Nations has rightly expressed concern over the
suspension and the RDA should be reinstated immediately,” said Australian Nursing
Federation Federal Secretary Ms Ged Kearney.
“The ANF welcomes all of the positive moves the Rudd government has taken to close the
17-year life expectancy gap in Indigenous communities but we don’t believe suspending
legislation designed to protect people from racial discrimination is either warranted or
beneficial. Mr Rudd recently signed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples and would be aware of the conflict in maintaining the suspension of the RDA in our
own Indigenous communities.”
Ms Kearney applauded the efforts of nurses working with Aboriginal Health Workers and
medical and allied health professionals in remote and Indigenous communities. “Nurses
and Aboriginal Health Workers provide the bulk of primary health care services in
Indigenous communities. They work tirelessly to improve the health and wellbeing of
Indigenous people and we need to ensure they remain working on the ground to close the
17-year life expectancy gap.”
Ms Kearney said she was also concerned about recent reports that Aboriginal women
travelling interstate from the Northern Territory had been unable to access Centrelink
payments due to the quarantine measures imposed by the NT intervention. “A recent report
detailed the case of a woman who tried to buy food with the Basics card that operates in
the NT but the card was not recognised in New South Wales,” Ms Kearney said. “We are
not going to improve health care outcomes by hampering people’s ability to access food
and medical services when they are in localities outside the NT. A solution must be found
that doesn’t marginalise Indigenous people.”
Media Contacts:
Ged Kearney, ANF Federal Secretary
0417 053 322
Libby Muir, Federal Communications Officer
0413 834 979
The ANF, representing nearly 170,000 members, is the professional and industrial voice for nurses and midwives in Australia.
NEWS 
