The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) welcomes the State Government Budget’s ground-breaking delivery of a $448 million investment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
VACCHO is pleased to see the 2021/2022 Budget’s delivery of $116 million to support the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as part of the State Government’s $3.8 billion for Victoria’s mental health system.
VACCHO CEO Jill Gallagher has welcomed the State Budget’s strong focus on mental health.
“This is a positive announcement that will make a significant difference to the health and wellbeing of our community. It will create job opportunities and allow our Members to provide the much-needed care and support for our people,” said Ms Gallagher.
VACCHO are pleased to see $31.5 million to transform the way services are delivered for at-risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families but would like to see more work done to help families access culturally appropriate preventative services.
“We need to keep our children safe and out of the child protection system. There needs to be a greater focus on preventative measures,” said Ms Gallagher.
Whilst the 2021/2022 Budget has seen some extremely positive initiatives – VACCHO would like to see more attention going towards caring for our Elders who continue to slip through the cracks.
VACCHO look forward to working together with ACCOs, government and mainstream health services to advance health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal communities across the state.
Background
VACCHO is the leading advocate for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal peoples in Victoria and a peak organisation to its membership of 32 ACCOs. VACCHO also works closely with partner organisations, Government, non-Government community sector organisations across Victoria and nationally.
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