Michael Gracey

Michael Gracey is a paediatrician who has worked with Aboriginal patients , their communities, and organisations for more than forty years. He was Principal Medical Adviser on Aboriginal Health to the West Australian Department of Health, became Australia’s first Professor of Aboriginal Health, and is a previous President of the International Paediatric Association.

Michael's recent articles

First Nations people, their health, and this coronavirus

The results of the efforts to suppress the potential damage to Indigenous Australians from the pandemic should be used as an example of how Indigenous people can be more meaningfully involved in their own health programs.

The missing millions that were meant to close gaps

In 2008 the Rudd government launched the Close the Gap Strategy which, among other things, was meant to bring equity in health and wider wellbeing into the lives of Indigenous Australians.

MICHAEL GRACEY. Protecting remote Indigenous people from the COVID-19 pandemic

The current pandemic caused by the virus COVID 19 is affecting many countries; it is highly infectious and potentially fatal, especially for vulnerable people. Indigenous Australians are especially at risk to this infection and will need special arrangements to minimise the devastation that this virus could bring to them. How can this be best achieved?

MICHAEL GRACEY. THE GAP. A rhetorical thought bubble with good intentions

In February 2008 then Prime Minister Rudd stated that our challenge . . . is to embrace a new partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

MICHAEL GRACEY. Closing that Aboriginal Health Gap

The persisting poor health of Aboriginal people over decades is an embarrassing stain on our national reputation and one that seems obstinately difficult to erase. How can this situation be effectively managed?

Closing the health gap - ten years on

Warning signs were emerging many decades before, but by the early part of this century it was obvious that the health of indigenous Australians was much worse than that of other citizens. Indicators such as high infant mortality, widespread malnutrition and infections in children, much shortened life expectancy, high rates of chronic diseases and disabilities, mental illnesses, Alzheimers disease, drug- and alcohol-related disorders, suicide and homicide, were all very unfavourable when indigenous and other Australians were compared.

MICHAEL GRACEY. Aboriginal health: An embarrassing decades-long saga

Its been widely known for fifty years that the health of Aboriginal people lags far behind that of other Australians. Despite that and the expenditure of billions of taxpayers dollars, serious gaps persist between Indigenous versus non-Indigenous health and wellbeing.

MICHAEL GRACEY. The simmering shame of aboriginal ill-health.

Indigenous people have experienced miserable health outcomes compared with other Australians for decades. Efforts going back to the 1960s brought some improvements but these were not enough to remove the inequalities. The federal government was prompted to try to resolve this impasse by establishing the so-called Close the Gap Strategy in 2008. This brought fresh hope that this international embarrassment would be removed from Australias report card. Indigenous people welcomed the initiative but medical experts questioned whether the massive changes the Strategy set as targets could be achieved, as planned, within a single generation. It seems that the reservations about...

Michael Gracey AO. Grappling with the Indigenous health gap.

By most recognised markers of socio-economic status, Indigenous Australians fare badly compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts. This is certainly the case where health standards are concerned. For example, rates of infections and hospitalisation for these and many other illnesses are much higher; chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke and diabetes are more prevalent; and hearing loss and blindness rates are increased as are a multitude of other disabilities. Illnesses and deaths linked to alcohol and drug abuse, and accidents and violence are more frequent, as are disorders associated with psychosocial stress. Death rates are increased across the life span and...

Michael Gracey . Whats needed to fix aboriginal health?

Policy Series By most of the usually accepted markers the health of Australias indigenous people compares unfavourably with that of other Australians. This has been known for decades and numerous strategies and programs have been developed to correct this inequity. Despite the best of intentions and expenditure of billions of taxpayers dollars over the past half-century, a yawning chasm remains in this so-called gap. The Prime Minister, no less, admitted in February 2015 that the findings of the seventh annual Close the Gap Report were profoundly disappointing. Two important questions flow from this: Why? Whats to be done...

Michael Gracey. Risks of Closing Remote Aboriginal Communities.

Forced dislocation from traditional homelands in the late 1960s and early 1970s made many Aboriginal families and groups move, for the first time, to small towns in the north and north-west of WA. This drift to strange environments with access to alcohol and living close to people from different backgrounds, languages and alien beliefs and behaviours, had dire and long-lasting social consequences as well as negative impacts on health and well-being and contact with the police. This came with a price to the general community as well as to those who were displaced. The controversial proposal by the Federal...

Michael Gracey. Why is closing the aboriginal health gap failing so badly?

The disparity between the health of Aboriginal people and other Australians first drew wide public attention In the 1960s; it became known as The Aboriginal Health Problem. This awareness came from reports of widespread and severe malnutrition in Aboriginal infants and young children, high rates of infections and gut parasites, high infant mortality, and reduced life expectancy. This wasnt good enough for a wealthy nation like Australia, the Lucky Country if you like, where the luck seemed to not extend to the First Australians. There was a public outcry at the time, followed by almost predictable political reactions aimed...

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