CHAPTER 12 Health care for Indigenous Australians
When you finish this chapter you should be able to:
Introduction
Although Social Darwinism has no scientific credibility, it does, however, have strength with uneducated and ill-informed members of the public. Oppressive government policies were developed to manage and control Indigenous populations and had authority under the protection, assimilation and integration policies, which were underpinned by paternalistic forms of the Social Darwinian theory (Attwood 1989). Therefore, much of the social construction of who an Indigenous Australian is has been disseminated and constructed within government policies and academia and not by Indigenous Australians (McCorquodale 1997).
Interwoven within Matthew’s (1997) causal pathway are the historical eras of governmental policies. In Figure 12.2 the official dates of when these policies were enacted are not detailed as implementation occurred at different times for each state and territory. Historically, Indigenous people’s access to government services was circumscribed by the colonial administrative systems after federation in 1901 (Anderson 2001).

Figure 12.2 Succession of government policies imposed on Indigenous Australians
Source: Adapted from Anderson 2006, Horton 1994, Wearne 1980
History of Aboriginal controlled health services: 1970 reforms and community health
The innovative approach by the AMS to primary health care was based on the Alma-Ata declaration (1978) and mirrored contemporary international aspirations for accessible, effective, appropriate, needs-based health care with a prevention and social justice focus (Hunter et al 2005). AMSs are now known as Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs), of which there are more than 130 across Australia (National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation [NACCHO] 2006; NATSIHC 2003b: 18–19).
By definition, an ACCHS must be:
The distinguishing characteristics of ACCHSs include: