Projects and activities addressing palliative care
There have been a number of national responses that are relevant to palliative care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. These projects and programs can contribute to the care and outcomes of palliative care patients and their families.
The key initiatives
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Palliative care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
- Our Mob and Cancer is the first Australian website created by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by cancer, their families, and communities. It includes a section called “If the cancer comes back or won’t go away”.
- National Indigenous Palliative Care Needs Study: Final Report (2003) (751kb pdf) was produced by Kate Sullivan & Associates for the National Palliative Care Program’s Indigenous Palliative Care Project. This informed the development of the National Palliative Care Program’s publication Providing culturally appropriate palliative care to Indigenous Australians: Resource Kit (2004). This resource kit provides strategies and training material to support health staff in providing culturally responsive palliative care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. It includes Practice Principles, the Resource, Discussion Paper, and also included a course.
- Cancer Australia produced the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cancer Framework in 2015, which includes access to culturally appropriate palliative and supportive care as a key priority.
- Palliative Care Australia released a position statement in 2015 focussing on a commitment to Improving access to quality care at the end of life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (85kb pdf).
- The Victorian Department of Health funded the Victorian Aboriginal Palliative Care Project 2007–2010 (700kb pdf), which aimed to increase Aboriginal Health Worker awareness of palliative care, increase cultural appropriateness of palliative care service delivery, and increase the number of Aboriginal clients accessing palliative care services.
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Palliative care
- The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care funds a range of national palliative care initiatives and programs primarily focused on education, training, quality improvement and advance care planning.
- The National Palliative Care Strategy 2018 is the policy document that the Australian Government and State and Territory governments use to guide palliative care development across Australia, and it notes the unmet palliative care needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.
- The Department of Health and Aged Care provides National palliative care publications related to the strategy:
- The National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for safe and high-quality end-of-life care from Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2023) highlights that end-of-life care education should include specific competencies for providing culturally responsive end-of-life care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- An ethical framework for integrating palliative care principles into the management of advanced chronic or terminal conditions (594kb pdf) from the National Health and Medical Research Council (2011) highlights that care decisions also need to respect cultural and specific needs of groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
- The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also has a series of statistical information about Palliative care, including a list of reports.
- The National Carer Strategy Action Plan 2011-2014 from the Department of Social Services highlights the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with high care needs to stay close to their home and country in culturally appropriate care, and the need to address the information needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health initiatives
- The National Framework for Continuous Quality Improvement in Primary Health Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 2018-2023 (1.88MB pdf) is designed to provide practical support for all primary healthcare organisations in their efforts to ensure that the health care they provide is high quality, safe, effective, responsive and culturally respectful.
- The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021-2031 is an evidence-based policy framework designed to guide policies and programmes to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health over the next decade until 2031.
- The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan 2021-2031 outlines the actions to be taken by the Australian Government, the Aboriginal community controlled health sector, and other key stakeholders to give effect to the vision, principles, priorities and strategies of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021-2031.
- My Life, My Lead – Implementation Plan Advisory Group (IPAG) Consultation 2017 is the latest strategy, which provides an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and leaders, government and the non-government and private sector to help shape the next Implementation Plan.
- The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing 2017-2023 is designed to contribute to the vision of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2012-2023. The framework helps to guide and support culturally appropriate mental health policy, practice and care services. The framework highlights the need for integrating culturally safe and competent mental health support services in aged care and palliative care.
- The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework monitors progress in Indigenous Australian health outcomes, health system performance and broader determinants of health. This report summarises the latest information on health outcomes, health system performance and the broader determinants of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people, drawing from the Health Performance Framework (HPF) measures. 2025 report.
- Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators reports from the Australian Government Productivity Commission. The latest report was released in December 2020.
- Closing the Gap is a strategy that aims to reduce Indigenous disadvantage. It is a formal commitment by the Australian Government in response to the 2005 Social Justice Report. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has set measurable targets to monitor improvements in the health and wellbeing of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian population.
- The Prime Minister releases an annual report to Parliament on progress on closing the gap, with the first delivered in February 2009. The latest Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s Report 2020 was released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
- Each year since 2010 the Australian Human Rights Commission have provided a ‘shadow’ Close the Gap progress and priorities report to the Prime Minister’s Closing the Gap Report which assesses the Australian Government’s progress, including against its implementation of the Statement of Intent commitments. The latest report Close the Gap 2018 A ten-year review: the Closing the Gap Strategy and Recommendations for Reset was released by the Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee and the Australian Human Rights Commission in February 2018.
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has a series of reports and statistics for research and evaluation evidence regarding Indigenous Australians on what works to overcome Indigenous disadvantage.
- The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare also has a section of Indigenous Australians health and welfare publications. This includes a report on the latest Trends in Indigenous Mortality and Life Expectancy 2001–2015, released in December 2017.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provides QuickStats, which is a simple at-a-glance summary of Census statistics for your selected area, including the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents. The ABS also provides more detailed Community Profiles that contain tables of detailed Census data for a selected area. A Community Profile provides a comprehensive statistical picture of an area in Excel format, providing characteristics relating to people, families and dwellings. They cover most topics on the Census form, and include profiles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the selected community.
- The National Health and Medical Research Council held a Translating Research into Policy and Practice (TRIPP) Forum in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in 2016. The TRIPP Forum Report (249kb pdf) highlighted palliative care as one of four key priorities in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older adults.
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Royal Commission Submissions
- The AIHW Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people report (431kb pdf) describes the age and geographic distribution of the older Indigenous population, its particular requirements in terms of aged care and support, and the pattern of usage of these service.
- A series of organisations made submissions to the Royal Commission into Safety and Quality in Aged Care including:
- Australian Association of Gerontology’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ageing Advisory Group (1.42MB pdf)
- Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory Aboriginal Corporation (184kb pdf)
- AIHW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generations aged 50 and over (1.13MB pdf)
- Stolen Generations: Joint Submission of The Healing Foundation, Australian Association of Gerontology, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ageing Advisory Group (1.42MB pdf)
- Koorie Caucus of the Aboriginal Strategic Governance Forum (288kb pdf)
- National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACHHO) 2019 submission (557kb pdf)
- National Advisory Group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care (NAGATSIAC) Paper 1 (2.67MB pdf) and Paper 2 (4.78MB pdf)
- Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) (4.03MB pdf).
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Last updated 15 June 2026