I am enrolled in the Centre for Health and Society at The
University of Melbourne. My PhD study, ‘Policy Networks and
Research to Policy Transfer in Aboriginal Health’, is about
investigating the problem of a disconnect between evidence of
Indigenous health disadvantage and appropriate policy responses. On
the one hand, there are many reports documenting Indigenous health
disadvantage. On the other, critics suggest that government health
expenditure is inadequate. I lay the groundwork for understanding
evidence to policy transfer in the context of national Indigenous
health policy processes through an extensive literature
review.
I have three data streams: an informal network of 227
influential people in national Aboriginal health policy; the
committee memberships and overall relationships between 77 national
health committees; and the outcomes of interviews with 32
influential policy actors. The results of this unique policy-level
project are applicable to all policy actors who want to improve the
application of knowledge to Aboriginal health policy problems. For
example, it debunks ATSIC protestations that the Indigenous voice
is lost in national policy process, because in the health policy
arena Indigenous people have a 59% membership of this influential
network. However, this contrasts with Indigenous people being 5% of
1029 committee members in 77 national health committees, mostly in
sub-committees far removed from the Council of Australian
Governments. The interviewees, from experienced and influential
Indigenous and non-Indigenous people based in a range of
organisations across the country, consistently cited the importance
of informal networks with trusted people as a source of a variety
of knowledges. They cited a move away from the aggressive
intimidation of some Indigenous people and greater understanding
from non-Indigenous people as enabling positive relationship
development. However, improved relationships need to be extended
with systematic intersectoral and cross-disciplinary knowledge
synthesis and management structures. Such coupling of humanity with
information could improve evidence-based Indigenous health
policy.
I describe myself as mixed descent, being Indigenous,
English and Latvian. However, the predominant memories of my life
are grounded in a set of experiences that seem common amongst many
Kooris of New South Wales. I owe my motivation to study from my
grandmother, Marjorie Woodrow.
Physically and culturally I occupy a space that I call the
‘confrontier’, a term coined to convey the
‘confrontational’ nature of myself forging a
‘frontier’ in the discourse of Indigenous health. The
confrontational nature in part refers to being
fair-skinned—and therefore often not good enough to be either
Indigenous or otherwise. Partly from this I have developed a
confrontational style as a defence mechanism for self-protection,
and as a critical mode of communication readily challenging
conventions around being Indigenous in Indigenous health and
Australian society.
Since 1995 my work experience in the Indigenous health
sector includes positions of an non-influential nature in health
promotion, project management, policy advice and lecturing. These
occurred in a variety of organisations—an Aboriginal Medical
Service, Commonwealth and state governments, and universities. The
PhD thesis is the last in a series of qualifications from a BSc in
Biochemistry, Honours in Nutrition, and a Master of Public Health
degree from the Menzies School of Health Research. I will continue
to conduct Indigenous health policy research in order to improve
national policy processes.
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