Listening to community voices in the country, on the pathway to closing the gap

Today, on National Close the Gap Day, WA Country Health Service is acknowledging the importance of all Australians moving forward together to address the significant disparities in health, wellbeing, life expectancy, education and economics between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.

• Children are born healthy and strong
• Children thrive in their early years
• People enjoy high levels of social and emotional wellbeing
• Everyone enjoys long and healthy lives

This year’s theme; Community Voices: The Pathway to Justice, Equality and Healing highlights the central role of Aboriginal voices in achieving justice, equality, and self-determination. It recognises the need for Aboriginal voices to be front and centre in conversations – a move away from symbolic recognition and towards genuine partnership.

To that end, the implementation of Leeann Kelly-Pedersen’s evocative artwork Ugarla nganhu buujungga nyinamarda (long time ago we lived in the bush) as a cornerstone of WA Country Health Service’s health service branding is not only a celebration of identity, it invokes a pathway towards building trust and deep connection with the communities and the unique spaces we live and work in.

Over the past year, WA Country Health Service has continued upon this pathway, building and strengthening a broad range of equitable, accessible health services, programs and projects uniquely tailored to Aboriginal communities.

Innovation is key

Of the nine projects awarded funding in 2025, three are specifically focussed on ensuring culturally safe care practices are considered and implemented to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal people.

These include Birthing on Country (co-designing maternity care models with Aboriginal women, the Karnpi Pirni Wellbeing Hub, and Looks Like Me, Sounds Like Me – raising awareness of eating disorders and promoting help-seeking in Aboriginal communities throughout WA.

Stay and be seen

National studies indicate Aboriginal people are up to three times more likely to leave a hospital or health service before treatment than non-Aboriginal people.

WA Country Health Service’s award-winning culturally safe multimedia campaign Kaya Where You Going? – was developed through the Pitch Your Pilot and led by the Aboriginal Health team at Bunbury Hospital. It aims to cut Did Not Wait (DNW) rates among Aboriginal people in South West emergency departments, where rates were 11 per cent on average in 2023-2024.

Kaya, Where You Going? was co-designed with local Elders, community members and consumers to increase awareness about why it’s important to stay and receive care.

Elsewhere, the Country Patient Health Support (Country PatHS) service celebrated a key milestone, with its 1000th referral late last year.

Since launching in early 2023, Country PatHS has played an important role in supporting country patients travelling from the Kimberley, Pilbara, Midwest and Goldfields to Perth for specialist care. The team works closely with regional and metropolitan healthcare providers, Aboriginal organisations, accommodation and homelessness services to offer practical, culturally safe and reassuring support during what can be a stressful journey.

By providing advocacy and coordinating transport, Country PatHS has and continues to help people engage with specialist medical teams to complete their care and also works to ensure their safe return home.

Connecting experience with opportunity

Through our revitalised Aboriginal Mentorship Program (AMP), WA Country Health Service is striving to make meaningful change in Aboriginal employment and workplace culture.

The AMP supports Aboriginal employees to grow professionally in a culturally safe and respectful environment and fosters a workplace culture that values trust, openness, and shared learning to strengthen recruitment and retention strategies for Aboriginal staff.

The program is designed to support Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff through mentoring relationships by connecting experience with opportunity, guidance with growth, and ambition with support. With this action, WA Country Health Service is taking concrete steps toward building a culturally safe and meaningful workplace.

By growing a network of staff driving positive organisational change, the overriding aim is to empower Aboriginal staff, strengthen leadership pathways, and promote cultural identity and pride. Mentors can help build confidence, aspirations and a sense of belonging, which are strongly linked to improved school engagement, career participation and long-term wellbeing — all key priorities of the Close the Gap agenda.

The AMP has been developed with consultation from WA Country Health Service’s Aboriginal Workforce Team with senior Aboriginal leaders and is a key initiative of WA Country Health Service’s Aboriginal Employment Strategy 2023-2026, and the Closing the Gap WA Implementation Plan 2023-2025.

Looking forward and leading by example

Strong progress has been made on the Aboriginal Health Champions Program, with the first cohort of participants recently inducted.

These participants have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to providing culturally safe care, working in a culturally responsive manner, and advocating strongly for Aboriginal people.

This initiative is about identifying and engaging WA Country Health Service staff who lead by example, live and breathe the organisation’s core values, and positively influence their peers by showing stewardship and advocating for priority issues that affect Aboriginal health.

The program is an important step forward in acknowledging the importance of engaging Aboriginal people in delivering culturally informed initiatives and improving how healthcare services are delivered in country WA.

Planning for the future

While WA Country Health Service is proud of these milestones, initiatives and achievements, there is still much more that needs to be done.

Close the Gap Day serves as an important reminder that Aboriginal health is everyone’s responsibility and for everyone to redouble efforts to reduce disparities, particularly in health, emotional wellbeing and life expectancy.

Today, and every day, WA Country Health Service encourages all staff to reflect on how they can find ways to lead or participate in meaningful and lasting change to health outcomes for Aboriginal people in the communities they care for.