THE Frankston-based First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing and Nairm Marr Djambana are among six Aboriginal organisations to share $930,000 released by the state government’s Aboriginal Community Response and Recovery Fund.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams said the money was aimed at providing additional outreach support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Frankston and on the Mornington Peninsula.
The $10 million fund – announced in July – was set up to support Aboriginal groups in leading local responses to the coronavirus pandemic, including emergency relief, outreach and brokerage, social and wellbeing initiatives.
“Victoria’s Aboriginal community hold the knowledge and expertise about what is best for themselves, their families and their communities – in these unprecedented times, that knowledge is crucial,” Ms Williams said.
“While it is fantastic to see Victoria opening back up again, we know the impacts of the pandemic will be long-lasting.”
Earlier this year First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing provided flu vaccinations and tested hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for COVID-19 at Frankston and Hastings (“Car park health help for Indigenous”, The Times, 20/4/20).
In December 2019, the organisation’s CEO Karinda Taylor criticised the federal government and the health minister, Flinders MP Greg Hunt, for not including Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula in its “$90 million-dollar boost for Aboriginal health services”.
Details: aboriginalvictoria.vic.gov.au/aboriginal-community- response-and-recovery-fund.
First published in the Frankston Times – 17 November 2020