CLOSING THE GAP

Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of preventable
disease and premature death in Australia. While smoking
rates have continued to decline in Australia, the smoking
rates of Indigenous Australians aged 15 and over are
significantly higher than the broader population.
The Tackling Indigenous Smoking program funds
37 regional grants to deliver best practice tobacco
control approaches. Local community activities
promote the benefits of not smoking, improve
access to support and build capacity of individuals
and organisations. National supports include
funding to enhance Quitline services for Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander callers, training in brief
interventions and a National Best Practice Unit.
The program also funds seven innovation grants,
targeting critical smoking behaviours within
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,
particularly pregnant women and young people
in remote communities. These grants deliver
intensive smoking prevention and cessation
activities, coupled with research and evaluation.
Tackling Ice
Under the National Ice Action Strategy, we have
committed almost $300 million over four years
from July 2016 towards a number of measures to
reduce the impacts associated with drug and alcohol
misuse to individuals, families and communities.
This funding will strengthen education, prevention,
treatment, support and community engagement. Of
this total investment, $78.6 million over four years is
being provided for PHNs to commission Indigenousspecific
drug and alcohol treatment services.
Reducing petrol sniffing
In some remote communities, petrol sniffing was
having a significant impact on the health and wellbeing
of individuals, families and communities. This led to
communities and governments working together to
develop a solution. Low aromatic fuel (known as Opal
at the time) was first made available in communities in
Central Australia and Western Australia in 2005 and
has been highly successful in reducing rates of petrol
sniffing. The availability of the fuel has grown and it is
now available in more than 170 fuel outlets in regional
and remote parts of Australia. The tenth anniversary
of low aromatic fuel being available in fuel outlets
in Alice Springs was celebrated in October 2016.
Research released in 2016 from the Menzies School
of Health Research found that, in communities
surveyed since 2005-07, petrol sniffing has reduced
by up to 88 per cent since the introduction of low
aromatic fuel (d'Abbs & Shaw, 2016). This research
also found a 90 per cent reduction in the number of
people sniffing at least once week and who are most
at risk of potentially irreversible physical harm.
BUILDING THE EVIDENCE
Tackling Indigenous Smoking program
The Tackling Indigenous Smoking program is a targeted
investment to reduce smoking rates in the Indigenous
population. Innovation grants funded under the program
will build evidence on reducing smoking in hard to
reach groups, with a focus on intensive interventions for
pregnant women, for remote communities, and for youth
in remote areas. The program also includes a National
Best Practice Unit that facilitates implementation of
best practice Indigenous tobacco control by regional
grant recipients and promotes research, monitoring
and evaluation of evidence-based models for tobacco
control, including through the Tackling Indigenous
Smoking portal on the Australian Indigenous Alcohol and
Other Drugs Centre website. A full program evaluation
is underway and is due for completion in mid-2018.
School nutrition projects
The Menzies School of Health Research is reviewing
school nutrition projects to determine their nutritional
contribution, measure the extent to which school
nutrition projects comply with relevant dietary guidelines
and explore the importance of the school nutrition
projects in providing for children’s nutrition needs. This
review is expected to be completed in June 2017.
National Disability Research and
Development Agenda
The National Disability Research and Development
Agenda includes projects with a specific focus on
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with
disability. These research projects, which are currently
underway, aim to support Indigenous people to
live and stay on country, undertake Indigenous-led
disability research, improve education and employment
outcomes through digital enterprise, and address legal
barriers for Indigenous Australians with a disability.
Suicide Prevention Centre of
Best Practice
A National Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention
will be established to provide best practice
information and advice, building the capacities
of Primary Health Networks and Indigenous
communities to take action in response to suicide
and self-harm in their immediate region.
•88• CLOSING THE GAP: PRIME MINISTER'S REPORT 2017