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My journey in Tackling Indigenous Smoking (TIS) began at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) in 2010. What started as an opportunity to work directly with community would eventually become more than 15 years of working across local, regional, statewide and national approaches to Aboriginal tobacco and vaping prevention.
In 2013, I moved to the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH) in Queensland, where I had the opportunity to contribute to the growth of Deadly Choices. I remained there until 2018, gaining valuable experience in how strongbranding, community engagement, partnerships and innovative health promotion could make preventative health messages more relevant and engaging for community.
In 2018, I returned to VAHS and began the next chapter of my TIS journey.
Between 2018 and 2022, I developed Boorais and Smoke Don’t Mix for the Melbourne north-west metropolitan region. This period also brought one of the greatest challenges I experienced in TIS — COVID-19.
For almost half of that period, Victoria experienced significant restrictions, including six lockdowns. TIS has always relied heavily on being visible in community, building relationships and having conversations face-to-face, so delivering meaningful work when community engagement was severely restricted forced us to rethink how we operated.
It was challenging, but it also reinforced something that would shape my approach from that point forward: when the traditional way of doing something is no longer possible, you have to be willing to innovate.
Taking TIS statewide
From 2022, my focus shifted towards developing a statewide model for TIS in Victoria.
The vision was to create a universal approach and system that ensured communities across all four corners of Victoria could receive productive, consistent and culturally relevant TIS engagement, while still allowing local communities and Aboriginal organisations to maintain their own identity and connection with community.
A major part of making that vision possible was establishing a statewide partnership involving 13 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs).
Building that partnership required a deliberate and respectful process. It wasn’t simply about creating another program structure — it was about developing an approach where organisations could see genuine value in working together and where everyone could benefit from TIS.
Between 2023 and 2026, that partnership helped establish a stronger and more connected statewide approach to TIS across Victoria.
From this came The Koori Way, our statewide TIS brand and platform.
The Koori Way gave us the opportunity to think differently about what TIS engagement could look like. We introduced new approaches including video tutorials, community incentive initiatives, youth-focused programs andactivities, statewide community engagement strategies, new campaign concepts and soon, the new TIS community theatre show touring across Victoria in April and May in 2027.
From Victoria to a national vision
Flip the Vape began as a Victorian initiative, but from early on I believed the concept had the potential to go much further.
My vision was to take what we had developed in Victoria and expand it nationally, working in partnership with Aboriginal organisations and communities across Australia.
That vision became a reality, with Flip the Vape expanding beyond Victoria and into other regions across the country.
Seeing something developed through our TIS work in Victoria grow into a national initiative has been one of the achievements I am most proud of. More importantly, it demonstrated what can happen when Aboriginal-led innovation isgiven the opportunity and support to grow.
Building more than programs
Throughout this period, my focus wasn’t only on campaigns and community engagement. I wanted to build a strong TIS workforce with purpose, stability and culture.
Over four years, our team experienced only two staff departures. For me, that stability reflected the culture we worked hard to create — one where people understood their purpose, were trusted to contribute ideas and felt ownership over the direction of the work.
Strong programs need strong people behind them.
That philosophy became just as important to me as any campaign, event or initiative we delivered.
Leaving TIS strong
After more than 15 years in the TIS space, I feel this is the right time for me to step away.
I leave at a time when TIS in Victoria is strong. The statewide model is established, partnerships across Victoria are strong, the workforce has a clear purpose and culture, and there is still significant opportunity for growth.
At the same time, Flip the Vape is continuing to reach new regions across Australia.
Looking back over my journey from starting at VAHS in 2010, contributing to the growth of Deadly Choices at IUIH, returning to VAHS, navigating TIS through COVID, building a statewide Victorian model and eventually seeing our work expand nationally, there is a lot to be proud of.
But my approach to TIS has always come back to one simple question:
How do you create good engagement around a subject that can be confronting, difficult or simply not attractive for people to talk about?
For me, the answer has always been innovation.
You have to understand community, be willing to challenge the traditional way of doing things and create something people genuinely want to engage with.
And sometimes, you need to give yourself permission to push an idea far enough that it becomes reality.
Lionel Austin
