Overview
Measures under Goal 12 have varied in performance
In 2023-24, the proportion of Aboriginal Victorians who received a health check or assessment and the proportion who accessed aged care services decreased.
In 2022-23, the participation rate of Aboriginal women for breast cancer screening decreased.
In 2024, the utilisation rate for Aboriginal Victorians with a NDIS approved plan increased. However, Aboriginal Victorians continue to use less funds available to them through the NDIS than non-Aboriginal people. The proportion of Aboriginal Victorians who transitioned into the NDIS with an approved plan in 2024 is less than the proportions in the previous three years.
Goal 12 directly aligns with the following Closing the Gap Outcome and Target
The National Agreement does not contain outcomes and targets that align with this VAAF goal. Victoria is pursuing more ambitious and comprehensive goals under the VAAF, which are reported on in this chapter and the Data Dashboard.
Closing the Gap - How Victoria is tracking nationally
Not applicable.
Data Note
The following measures rely on datasets that are infrequently collected. No new data was available at the time of reporting.
- Measure 12.1.3a Proportion and number accessing disability services, by Aboriginal status
- Measure 12.1.5 Number and proportion of people aged 55 years or over who had an annual health assessment.
Historical data for these measures is available on the First Peoples – State Relations website
Analysis for these measures can be found at
12.1 Improve access to health and community services for all Aboriginal Victorians
Measure 12.1.1 Proportion who received a health check or assessment by age
In 2023-24, 12.7 per cent of Aboriginal children aged 0–14 years, 11.5 per cent of Aboriginal people aged 15–54 years and 19.1 per cent Aboriginal people aged 55 or over received a health check or assessment. This is a decrease across all age cohorts since 2022-23 and demonstrates that less than 1 in 5 Aboriginal Victorians received a health check or assessment. Regular health checks can identify current or emerging medical issues, assess risks of future medical issues and encourage a healthy lifestyle.[19] Early identification of medical issues can increase chances for effective treatment. It may also reduce hospitalisation from preventable causes. When cross analysing this data with that of Measure 11.1.4 (Rate of hospitalisations for potentially preventable causes), a lack of primary care health checks could be correlated with the short-term increase in preventable hospitalisation.
Aboriginal Health Practitioner-led Fluoride Varnish Program
Aboriginal children face significant barriers to accessing culturally safe oral healthcare, resulting in higher rates of tooth decay and preventable dental hospitalisations compared to non-Aboriginal children. In 2018-19, funded by the Victorian Government, the Loddon Mallee Aboriginal Reference Group (LMARG) developed a pilot fluoride varnish outreach program in collaboration with ACCOs, public dental services and community services. The pilot phase of the program reached over 200 Aboriginal children.
Based on early learnings of the pilot and consultation with the LMARG, ACCOs and the community, the pilot recommended:
- enabling Registered Aboriginal Health Practitioners (AHPs) to provide fluoride varnish, and
- delivering preventive oral health services in an ACCO setting.
Following regulatory amendments in 2022 authorising AHPs to administer fluoride varnish, trained AHPs could provide preventative treatment in culturally appropriate ways. Since 2022-23, 14 AHPs have successfully completed their training and now integrate oral health assessments into comprehensive health checks through effective referral pathways. Additional Victorian Government funding in 2023 has expanded the program to reach approximately 600 Victorian Aboriginal children, demonstrating that Aboriginal-led approaches based on principles of self‐determination can lead to significant benefits for Aboriginal communities.
Women’s Health and Wellbeing Program
Self-determination Enabler 3. Address racism and promote cultural safety
The Women’s Health and Wellbeing program delivered by the Department of Health is overseen by the Victorian Women’s Health and Advisory Council. The VACCHO CEO was appointed as a member of this Advisory Council in early 2024 to provide a voice to Aboriginal girls and women in designing a more responsive and cultural safe women’s health services system in Victoria.
Later in 2024, ACCOs were invited to submit applications to deliver a dedicated Aboriginal Women’s Health Clinic (the Clinic) to operate from 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2027. The Department of Health consulted with VACCHO before the development of submission documents for the procurement of the Clinic. ACCO applicants provided community-led service design proposals to operate the Clinic.
A mobile women’s health clinic commenced in January 2025, focusing on the delivery of free, quality and culturally safe women’s health services for Aboriginal girls and women residing in regional and rural Victoria. The model focuses on partnering with ACCOs in the local community to build relationships for improving referral pathways.
A new virtual women’s health clinic was launched on 6 February 2025 to provide women’s health services over the phone and online for all women, especially those experiencing access barriers, including Aboriginal women.
Additionally, the Department of Health established a new model of care for 20 new women’s health clinics being rolled out across Victoria over 4 years. The clinics were funded to deliver Women’s Health Scholarships in 2023-24 to 2024-25, which included courses on cultural inclusion, safety and Aboriginal self-determination for all health professionals.
The Department of Health also support the provision of sexual and reproductive healthcare across 20 Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Hubs for women in primary community settings while prioritising Aboriginal girls and women, women of culturally and linguistically diverse background, women living with a disability, LGBTIQA+ community members and those of lower socio-economic background.
13 Women's Health and Wellbeing Supports Groups were established across metro and regional Victoria operated by not-for-profit organisations with three of them, including Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, and Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative targeting Aboriginal girls and women.
Throughout 2024, the Inquiry into Women’s Pain conducted a broad sector wide consultation, including with Aboriginal women, with the groups leading the consultation for their mob and women in the community through yarn circles.
Measure 12.1.2 Participation rates for breast cancer screening
In 2022-23, the participation rate of Aboriginal women for breast cancer screening decreased in the short-term across all reported age cohorts (40+, 50-69 and 50-74). 21.7 Aboriginal women aged 40+, 33.2 Aboriginal women aged 50-69, and 33.6 Aboriginal women aged 50-74 per 100 Aboriginal women participated in breast cancer screening. In 2021-22, 23.0 Aboriginal women aged 40+, 37.0 Aboriginal women aged 50-69 and 37.0 Aboriginal women aged 50-74 per 100 Aboriginal women participated in breast cancer screening. Compared to 2013-14, participation rates have increased for Aboriginal women. However, the participation rates for Aboriginal women continue to be lower than for all women in Victoria. In 2022-23, 30.2 women in Victoria aged 40+, 50 women in Victoria aged 50-69 and 50.2 women in Victoria aged 50-74 per 100 women in Victoria participated in breast cancer screening.
To support increased participation, BreastScreen Victoria, the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and dozens of ACCOs across the state have partnered to deliver the Beautiful Shawl Project. Through this initiative, Aboriginal women are provided with customised shawls designed by Aboriginal women and artists that are culturally appropriate, familiar and beautiful to wear during breast cancer screenings. This initiative won the Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Award at the 2024 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards for its progress in increasing access to breast cancer screening across Victoria. In 2023-24, the Project saw a notable increase in screening among Aboriginal clients with a 39.5 per cent increase on the previous 12-month period. Serviced through 22 ACCOs, 406 Aboriginal clients have had a breast screen across 2023-24.
In 2024, the Victorian Government released the Victorian cancer plan 2024-2028 which sets the Victorian Government’s strategic direction for improving cancer outcomes for all Victorians. It builds on the success of previous cancer plans to address the burden of cancer and identifies ways to prevent cancer, increase survival rates, improve people’s experience of the cancer treatment and the care system, and deliver more equitable outcomes for Victorians with cancer.[20]
Measure 12.1.3 Proportion and number accessing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
In 2024, the proportion of Victorians with an approved NDIS plan who fully transitioned to the NDIS decreased to 90.1 per cent for Aboriginal Victorians and 92.3 per cent for non-Aboriginal Victorians. These are the lowest proportions recorded between 2021 and 2024 and represented 6,528 Aboriginal Victorians and 150,290 non-Aboriginal Victorians who transitioned to the NDIS. In 2024, 26,295 Victorians with Aboriginal status not stated also transitioned to the NDIS.
The NDIS approved plan utilisation rate has increased for Victorians. However, Aboriginal Victorians continue to use less funds available to them than non-Aboriginal Victorians with a NDIS approved plan. The NDIS approved plan utilisation rate is the total payments made from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 divided by the total annualised committed supports. In 2024, the NDIS approved plan utilisation rate was 73.8 per cent of Aboriginal Victorians and 76.9 per cent for non-Aboriginal Victorians.
Relative to the general Australian population, the prevalence of disability is much higher in First Peoples populations in Australia.[21] The NDIS connects eligible participants to information and peer, mainstream and community supports. The NDIS also funds ‘NDIS supports’ covering services, items and equipment to support eligible participants.[22] In 2025, the National Disability Insurance Agency released the NDIS First Nations Strategy 2025-2030 (First Nations Strategy) which was developed in collaboration with First Peoples. The First Nations Strategy will guide the National Disability Insurance Agency’s actions to make the NDIS more equitable, culturally safe, community-centred and coordinated for First Peoples.
Measure 12.1.4 Number and proportion accessing aged care services
In 2023-24, the proportion of First Peoples in Victoria who accessed aged care services decreased. 1,269 Aboriginal people (10.2 per cent) accessed aged care compared with 1,726 (14.4 per cent) in 2022-23. There is a similar trend for the non-Aboriginal population with 6.4 per cent of non-Aboriginal people accessing aged care services in 2023-24. This is a decrease of 3 percentage points from the year prior. Compared to 2014-15, the proportion of Aboriginal people who access aged care services increased by 2.8 percentage points whereas the proportion of non-Aboriginal people who access aged care services is the same. In an aging population we would expect the number of users and the proportion of the population to increase year on year. More research needs to be done to understand the drivers of use of aged care services for Aboriginal Victorians.
Measure 12.1.6. Services implement strategies, partnerships and campaigns, and offer care and support that is inclusive and address the needs of Aboriginal people who are LGBTIQA+
The Victorian Government launched Victoria’s first whole-of-government LGBTIQA+ strategy, Pride in our future: Victoria’s LGBTIQA+ strategy 2022–32 in February 2022, with a strong focus on intersectionality and community-led responses. Priority area 2 is Equitable, inclusive, and accessible services. Implementation of the strategy is underway, including action to support First Peoples lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer, sistergirl and brotherboy (LGBTIQ+SB) communities.
Footnotes
Health and Wellbeing
Improving health outcomes and having a good quality of life will ensure all Victorian Aboriginal communities can thrive.
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