When I visited the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands, I was impressed by the success of the Aboriginal women in persuading the members of their tribes who reside there to cut down the consumption of sugar and flour, with consequent reduction in the incidence of diabetes. We believe that all citizens of Australia should have access to health care. It is surely a mark of a civilised society to make good health care available to all its citizens. To make this provision for all citizens of Australia is no mean task. Those who live in isolated places are likely not to enjoy equal health care with those who live in the cities, although modern technology can assist correct diagnosis, despite the separation of patient from the diagnostician.
Many Aboriginal communities live at great distances from hospitals and from specialist services.
It is essential that medical and surgical services be available to them, that they have workers trained in health care and that they be encouraged to adopt a healthy life style. Unless we can arrest high infant mortality and increase the life expectancy of the adult Aborigines, the world will conclude that we have failed to give true citizenship to the Aborigine. In saying this, I am not ignoring the fact that substantial effort has been made and that considerable money has been spent in an effort to improve the health and the life expectancy of the Aboriginal population, but it is apparent that more needs to be done. The target could include the decrease in the incidence of diabetes and of other life threatening diseases in the Aboriginal population. Something similar has been done before in Australia.