Tasmania Medicare Local launches Reconciliation Action Plan

Keynote speaker Emma Lee with Emma Robinson of Karadi Aboriginal Corporation at the RAP launch.

Artists and guest speakers at the launch of Tasmania Medicare Local’s Reconciliation Action Plan. Back from left, Tanya Wells, CEO Phil Edmondson, Leigh Oates, TML Chair Dr Judith Watson, Dane Chisholm. Front, from left: Aunty Brenda Hodges who delivered the Welcome to Country, Jeanette James and keynote speaker Emma Lee.

Tasmania Medicare Local has affirmed its support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by launching its Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and reaching out to artists and entertainers to shine a light on traditional culture.

TML Chair Dr Judith Watson officially launched the plan at the Bahá’i Centre of Learning for Tasmania in Hobart today.

Dr Watson said the Reconciliation Action Plan program was about organisations such as TML documenting how they will contribute to reconciliation in Australia.

“It’s about turning good intentions into real actions,” she said. “This plan is a significant step forward in the Reconciliation process and is an important progression of TML’s commitment to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Tasmania.”

Local Aboriginal elder Aunty Brenda Hodge conducted the Welcome to Country for the event.

Local archaeologist and Aboriginal community member Emma Lee enthusiastically spoke to the assembled guests about the importance of Reconciliation in Tasmania.

“I congratulate Tasmania Medicare Local for taking the first steps of an ongoing journey in a quest for reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said.

“This plan recognises that TML can provide a solid foundation for economic benefit and the positive cascade of health and well-being outcomes by supporting Aboriginal people and culture.”

CEO Mr Phil Edmondson said a working group with representation from across the organisation – including Aboriginal staff – helped to build the plan.

“A Reconciliation Action Plan is a living document and an ongoing commitment for TML to build respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the wider community,” he said.

“It’s about raising awareness and understanding of issues affecting communities, and creating networks that generate local opportunities and solutions. “Tasmania Medicare Local is contributing to change by creating opportunities, building relationships and growing respect for Tasmanian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Mr Edmondson said.

“We would like to encourage other Tasmanian organisations to take up the opportunity of working with Reconciliation Australia and the Aboriginal Community to develop their own Reconciliation Action Plan.”

Four local Aboriginal artists were recognised and their stunning artworks displayed as part of the RAP launch. TML commissioned the works after an Expression of Interest process in June. They will be displayed in its offices in Ulverstone, Launceston and Hobart.

The artists are Dane Chisholm from Beaumaris on the East Coast, Leigh Oates from the Huon Valley, Tanya Wells from the North West and Jeanette James from Hobart.

Tasmania Medicare Local’s new visual identity for Aboriginal Health Programs – a traditional shell necklace by jewellery-maker Jeanette James – was also officially unveiled. Her design features on the cover and inside the Reconciliation Action Plan.

TML receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Health to provide a range of health and wellbeing services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Tasmania.

In Ulverstone these services are delivered from the Number 34 Aboriginal Health Service in partnership with the Six Rivers Aboriginal Corporation. TML also delivers and commissions services across the state under the Closing the Gap program.

TML ensures services are tailored to meet local needs and planned and delivered in collaboration with Aboriginal communities and regional health and wellbeing service providers.
The new Reconciliation Action Plan will be available on TML’s website www.tasmedicarelocal.com.au

About the Reconciliation Action Plan Program

Through the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) program, organisations develop business plans that document what they will do within their sphere of influence to contribute to reconciliation in Australia. The RAP Impact Measurement Report 2012 showed 358 Australian organisations had a RAP and more than 1.7 million Australians worked or studied in an organisation that had a RAP. More information: www.reconciliation.org.au/raphub/about

About Tasmania Medicare Local

Tasmania Medicare Local is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation working to keep Tasmanians well and out of hospital, connect health services, and make it easier for Tasmanians to access the services they need closer to home.

Medicare Locals are different to the Australian Government’s Medicare system which allows Australians to make claims for the cost of health services.
TML Chair Dr Judith Watson