STEVE GEORGANAS, MEMBER FOR ADELAIDE: It’s great to be here at Nunkuwarrin Yunti with the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health and Women to make a great announcement today here in my electorate.
My name is Steve Georganas, I'm the federal MP for the federal seat of Adelaide, where we're situated. And it's such an important announcement that supports mums and babies, gives them the support that they require in those early stages to ensure that when support is needed, it's there. So it's a great announcement. It's about ensuring that the future of our next generation of babies that are being born today have that support and those mechanisms in place to ensure that mums and babies are supported, and you see it right here. We spoke to a mum just earlier who has that community around her, the support that she needs, and it's such important work.
Without further ado, to a person that is more learned than me in this area, the Assistant Minister Rebecca White.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: I'm really proud to be here today at Nunkuwarrin Yunti to make this announcement, that the Australian Government, in partnership with the community-controlled sector, has invested $100 million in 15 sites right across the country to provide maternal and child wellbeing services. These services are so important. When you're finding out the news that you're pregnant and you're thinking about the birth of your baby, it can be really daunting. And knowing that there are culturally appropriate, safe, community-connected services is one of the things we know makes a really big difference. The evidence that underpins this program has been developed by community-controlled organisations through discussions with community, with mothers, understanding what they need for their babies. So it's a really well-designed service that's been funded by the Australian Government, delivered by a community, and this is one of the biggest transitions for this program.
We've funded initiatives like these across the country, across these 15 sites, for a number of years now. But for the first time, what we've been able to do is work with community and empower them to develop programs that work best for their local communities. And that is what we're seeing happen right now across these 15 sites in Australia. And what that means is that parents are getting the sort of support that they've been asking for, and the sort of support their teams of care workers have been wanting to deliver. And in partnership, they're now making sure they can access culturally appropriate care, that they can get that information when they're in the early stages of their pregnancy, right through until the years after their baby is welcomed into their lives.
And we know that those first couple of years, once you welcome a baby home, can be really challenging. And often we don't see supports continue to the parent. This changes that. It makes sure those parents are connected into services, both in their home and in their community, where they can ask questions, be supported, and feel safe to do that, knowing that their culture is respected, and that the future of their little one is given the best possible start.
I'm really proud of the work that's been done, not just at this site, but right across the 15 sites. I know there was a lot of effort put into designing the program so that it could be rolled out in this manner, and I congratulate everybody who's been a part of that. We're really thrilled to see the impact that it's making. We'll hear later from a mum about what this means for her. But I think for any mum, if you're facing the prospect of welcoming a new baby into the world and you don't have your own community around you, that can be really hard. Even when you do, it can be really hard. So, making sure that we put services like this in place that are culturally appropriate, that are safe, that are connected, and most importantly, continue for a number of years. It's going to help us see improvements in birth weights for First Nations communities, but also postnatal care and support for those mums be embedded into practice across these 15 sites.
JASMINE COCKATOO-COLLINS: Yes. My name is Jasmine. I'm the lead culture [indistinct] worker with Kuru Mankunthi here at Nunkuwarrin Yunti. We work from a women’s, child health model here. So that's our approach. So Kuru Mankunthi falls under that with a few other services that are here for our mums.
They’re culturally appropriate services, you know, and the mums are the centre of their care. They’re the ones that decide what kind of support they want, what services they want, and how that impacts what they’re interested in, what their cultural values are. So, we're with them up until the baby is two years of age, could go a bit longer. And yeah, that’s what we do.
JOURNALIST: How important is it to have mums and bubs coming into a culturally safe space, to bring that [indistinct], you know, having good health? You know, good health and education, how important is it to have a culturally safe space?
COCKATOO-COLLINS: Well, I'm just thinking about even myself when I became a mother, you know? I knew everybody there at the service. Everybody knew my children. If my children ran up the hallway, it was okay because they had all these aunties and uncles. It was like family. It was like our place. I hope that that's the sort of feeling that we try to for our mothers, we want them to feel like they own this place and they're not shy to come in, or they feel comfortable here. They see mob here as well, with culturally similar experiences. They don’t feel shame to ask questions. We're helping them to give them knowledge and helping them to make, like informed decisions that can impact on their life for them and their children and their families.
JOURNALIST: And how do you think the new funding will make a difference to local mums and bubs?
COCKATOO-COLLINS: That we continue it on. And as we know, like, each community is different, so we’ve got to make it suit our community. So the fact that it's continuing on, like, there's definitely a need. We’ve had a lot of graduates, we've had other clients that have referred family and friends. So the fact that it’s continuing on is just- yeah, it’s amazing that we get to still do this.
JOURNALIST: Assistant Minister, how will this funding improve health outcomes for mums and bubs attending programs like this throughout the country?
WHITE: Our goal is to make sure that mums have got the best advice and information they need going through their pregnancy and once they've welcomed their baby. The design of these programs are different across the 15 different sites, and the programs have been identified that way because they're responding to local needs. Some of them run smoking and vaping cessation programs. Some of them are talking to mums about how to prepare for the birth of their baby. And then once they welcome a baby home, it's talking about all of those considerations that you need to think about for your baby as well as yourself as a mum. So that might be immunisation. It might be healthy feeding and nutrition. It might be sleeping. It might just be connection to other people, so you can share the questions that you've got.
As a new parent, you don't know what you don't know. And so, being in a safe environment where you're encouraged to share and all questions are welcome is so vital. Because nobody should have to parent by themselves, and no one should need to feel unsafe or like they are unable to ask a question because of shame or stigma. That's the value in these programs, because if we can connect people into trusted local health services, it's not only great for their babies; it's great for the mothers.
JOURNALIST: A hundred million dollars is a lot during a few years period. How will the government measure the success of the investment?
WHITE: So, it's a $100 million investment over 15 sites for three years, and it is a continuation of an existing program that was supporting mums and babies. But the difference is, this has been completely redesigned, informed by local communities and owned by the community-controlled sector. So, I think that's going to help us understand how we make the biggest difference. We'll measure outcomes across different metrics, such as healthy birth weights, which is one of the Closing the Gap targets. We're currently at around 89 per cent, but we want to get that to 91 per cent healthy birth weights by 2031. We are still a little bit stubbornly stuck below the target, but programs like this are really important for helping us achieve those Closing the Gap initiatives, making sure we reach those goals.
JOURNALIST: Thank you, Assistant Minister. Steve. I'll just ask you a quick question.
GEORGANAS: Yeah, certainly.
JOURNALIST: You know, this is part of your electorate here in Adelaide. How is it important to see a program be invested with the funding from the federal government to improve the lives of families in your electorate?
GEORGANAS: It's extremely important. So, as we heard other people speak before me, so important to have that culturally sensitive and that support basis for the mums especially those early stages where the support really needed. And that ensures in the future that there are greater outcomes, the possibility of positive outcomes. That's why it's so important. I think the money is well invested, and it's invested in a way that, as I said, ensures that there is the support mechanism in place that people feel comfortable and are supported through different, perhaps services that may be needed, a whole range of things. But it's like a meeting place where people can come feel comfortable and ensure that everything that is required for the well-being of that mum and that baby at those very early stages does take place, and therefore the outcomes were far greater in terms of being positive.