WARNING: VACCHO advises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that the following article contains references to those who have returned to the Dreaming.
The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) demands urgent action be taken to address the ongoing failures exposed in the findings of the coronial inquest into the death of Aboriginal man Michael Suckling.
Mr Suckling was 41 years old when he passed away unexpectedly in the Dunmore Unit at Ravenhall Correctional Centre on 7 March 2021. During his three years of incarceration, Mr Suckling had a rapid weight gain of over 100kg, which Coroner Peterson said contributed to his enlarged heart and eventually his passing.
VACCHO CEO Dr Jill Gallagher AO, says this coronial inquiry has exposed yet again, that our prison health system appears to be ill-equipped to meet the health and wellbeing needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“This is yet another Aboriginal person who has fallen through the cracks of an unsafe system and paid the ultimate price.”
“It’s been 33 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which made recommendations to better protect Aboriginal people in Australian jails and police stations – but sadly, we are still calling for those recommendations to be implemented while Communities lose their loved ones,” Dr Gallagher said.
Since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991, multiple reviews and investigations have recommended the development of an Aboriginal-led model of custodial healthcare.
VACCHO calls on the Victorian Government to fund $2 million over two years to deploy a pilot Aboriginal-led model of care that has developed and set aside funding so that pilot can be adapted and expanded across the state.
“ACCOs have proven to produce better health outcomes for Aboriginal people when compared with mainstream services, and this remains true in custodial settings.”
“Aboriginal-led culturally safe care must be central to the way forward for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria’s prison health system.
“Enough is enough and something has to change. Aboriginal-led measures and methods of care must be central to the way forward to prevent more members of our Community from having their lives cut so devastatingly short,” Dr Gallagher said.
VACCHO would like to extend its deepest condolences to the families of Michael Suckling and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families that have been impacted as a result of these systemic failures.
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