News

March 27, 2025

Message from the TIS National Coordinator, Prof Tom Calma AO 

I’m currently staying at Taronga Zoo’s accommodation complex for the night as part of a University of Sydney event, so I have a group of kangaroos directly outside my window. I’m looking forward to hearing the lions roaring and the monkeys chattering later this evening.

I wanted to begin by recognising that a number of our Tackling Indigenous Smoking teams, as well as many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, have recently been impacted by Cyclone Alfred, particularly in northern New South Wales, southern Queensland and up to the Gold Coast. We understand the disruption that Alfred has caused and feel thankful it wasn’t as destructive as predicted. We are appreciative everybody is safe and we can keep on working with our communities – particularly our school kids – promoting the benefits of being smoke-free and vape-free.

I’d like to welcome the new members who have recently joined the National Best Practice Unit. I look forward to meeting Telita Goile, Executive Officer; Ronald O’Brien, Program Officer (South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania); and Astrid Innes, NBPU Marketing and Communications Manager during the National TIS Workers Workshop in Darwin/Garramilla on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 June. Since there’s now less than three months to go until we meet up on Larrakia Country, I want to stress the importance of all TIS staff attending this workshop. There are some exciting additions to the schedule, so be sure to book your accommodation and flights as soon as you can to avoid missing out. Speak to your NBPU Program Officer or Kelly Franklin if you have any questions.

Last week I attended a special ceremony at the Australian National University honouring my late colleague, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG. The event saw the ANU Cultural Centre named in her honour a little over a year since she passed away. As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, Lowitja was a very important mentor to me and shaped my approach to advocacy and public service. Although ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell didn’t personally know Lowitja, she spoke very well in relation to her impact in fields including health, politics and elevating the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, attended with her husband, Simeon Beckett SC, a barrister who actually worked with Lowitja on native title and land rights issues. I was there simply as an invited guest so I didn’t speak at this occasion, but Lowitja Institute patron Pat Anderson AO and I were both recognised in the speeches, which was very nice. You can read more about the Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre here.

It’s something many of us will already know only too well, but a report released earlier this month highlighted the 2023 Voice Referendum ‘normalised racism’. It’s as if the lead-up to the Voice Referendum gave people a license to be racist. The report reinforces the need for us as a nation to wake up to ourselves and make sure that we address our own unconscious biases to assess why we’ve arrived at a position about a certain group of people. To avoid being considered racist, we need to think about whether our views are based on reporting that is not based on facts. In some cases, our perspectives might be formed by a few examples that are then used to brand a whole population. We have to be very careful not to poison the minds of our youth while they’re young, otherwise they’ll grow up racist. Racists are one thing Australia doesn’t need any more of. Read the Jumbunna Institute’s Call It Out Racism Register here or learn more about how to address racism on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Racism. It Stops With Me site.

In good news regarding Australia’s ongoing crackdown on vaping, this month Tasmania became the first state to completely ban over the counter vape sales. It’s a welcome sign that state governments are taking a lead – and it’s particularly encouraging to see conservative states making this decision. Given there are rumblings that the Coalition might wind back some of the existing vaping legislation if there was a change in Federal government, I am pleased Tasmania has passed the Public Health Amendment (Vaping) Bill 2024.

You might recall we’ve previously mentioned Apunipima Cape York Health Council’s fantastic Breathe In Breathe Out hip hop video, filmed in conjunction with the Mapoon community, on the TIS Workers Facebook Page and on the Tackling Indigenous Smoking website after they launched it late last year. I’m heading up to the area for another project in May, when I’ll be speaking with the broader Weipa community about options for the region when mining businesses begin winding back their local projects. We have seen something similar occur in places like Jabiru and Nhulunbuy, so it’s important to engage with the community about potential challenges faced when a workforce moves away from being dependent on mining. While I’m in Weipa I’m hoping to catch up with Apunipima’s Napranum TIS team and maybe even take a trip to Mapoon, so I’m looking forward to that.

This month we’ve seen the latest report by Productivity Commission suggesting Closing the Gap requires more accountability, as only four of the 19 targets have been reached. All of them are advancing in one way or another, but the questions have to be around how can we accelerate advancement? As I’ve noted at a number of forums I’ve taken part in recently, we’ve got to start looking more broadly and more collectively and cooperatively between agencies rather than siloing the issues. If education goals aren’t being achieved, is it because the curriculum isn’t right? Do we not have appropriate levels of teaching in particular areas? Or is it simply because the children don’t have a conducive household to sit down and do homework and they don’t have enough food to sustain them during the day? There was a Red Dirt Schools: Connecting Community and Curriculum report written a number of years ago and it’s still valid today, since we can’t look at curriculum with a Western lens. I’d recommend people read the Close the Gap Annual Report launched last week, since that particular document is the people’s report, not something written by the Federal Government or Opposition. That’s where you’ll find positive stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who are making important differences in education, land management, health, criminal justice and other areas. When the Closing the Gap strategy was introduced in 2008, it was predicated on consistent policy and funding that wasn’t chopped and changed by consecutive governments. The constant threat of funding being cut isn’t conducive to making long-term change. If you look at it from that perspective, what’s the one program that has not been under threat? That’s had relatively consistent policy and funding since 2010? That’s seen communities empowered to come up with their own solutions, messaging and approaches? It’s TIS, the Federal Government’s most successful health strategy (as measured by estimated lives saved)! It just shows what results can be achieved when the process is put in the hands of the community with a solid structure to support them. We have some very positive journal articles about the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program set to be published in the coming months, so I look forward to sharing them with you soon.

You’ll see more news about the National Reach and Priority Projects (NRPP) elsewhere in this newsletter, but I also wanted to quickly touch on this important funding opportunity. As with last year’s NRPP money made available via the Department of Health and Aged Care, this is additional funding to address vaping or smoking in regional, remote and very remote communities. To be successful, tender applicants will need to ensure they aren’t duplicating the great work TIS teams are already achieving in each Indigenous Region (IREG). There is an opportunity to learn more about NRPP in a tender briefing this week, so head to the website or read below for more information.

To finish, I wanted to share with you a photograph of a Holden HG I’ve been restoring for the last decade. The HG was a popular model when it was unveiled in 1970, but you don’t see too many of them around these days. My HG has a 253 V8 and is finally fully restored, so if you see me driving it around Canberra be sure to give me a wave!

Prof Tom Calma AO 
FANZSOG FAA FASSA FAHAN
TIS National Coordinator