She started as a health aide with the Health Department, then in 1981 became the first Aboriginal liaison officer with St Vincent's Hospital. The job at St Vincent's was a challenge. Aboriginal people then wouldn't use mainstream health services unless it was an emergency. So Hansen and other workers visited people in their homes. They looked at the wellbeing of the whole family, made sure children were in school, that families had access to social security benefits and to other agencies.
Aboriginal women tend to protect their bodies and cover up.
It's not even acceptable for a male doctor to put a stethoscope down the front of a woman's shirt, she says. She felt she could talk to government agencies about what was happening on the ground and make sure the Aboriginal community was consulted in decisions affecting them. I felt I'd be able to open doors. She'd had a taste of lobbying in the '70s and knew what it took. Hansen and two men who were recovering alcoholics lobbied the Federal Government over two years for funds to establish a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.