Demand action to Close the Gap in eye health

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Phone:	Personal information is collected to send updates about our work, which may include fundraising appeals. Our privacy policy outlines how you can access or correct your personal information, who we disclose it to, and how we store it. By signing this pledge, you confirm you are over 18 years of age. You can change how we contact you at any time by emailing [email protected], calling 1800 352 352), or writing to us at Supporter Services, The Fred Hollows Foundation, Locked Bag 5021, Alexandria NSW 2015. Authorised by A. Hill, The Fred Hollows Foundation, Sydney

“The results are not good enough,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison himself told parliament this year. For 12 years, the Australian Government’s Closing the Gap strategy has failed to do that.

“A disappointing litany of failure – it’s not good enough, Indigenous Australians deserve better,” said Close the Gap co-Chairs June Oscar and Karl Briscoe.

If Fred were alive today, he’d be furious.

“We cannot go on as a modern country living with this scandalous situation,” he said. In 1990!

The time for action is long overdue.

Australian governments need to adopt new ways of working, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the driving seat.

The Australian Government must take immediate action by increasing funding to Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and investing in healthy housing through recommitting to a new National Partnership Agreement on remote Indigenous Housing.

Closing the gap in eye health needs an extra $85.5 million over five years, as demanded in Vision 2020’s Strong Eyes, Strong Communities plan.

That funding would:
• Increase availability of eye health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians;
• Embed eye health into Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations; and
• Improve housing to eliminate infectious diseases such as trachoma.

Join us in telling Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Minister for Health Greg Hunt, and Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, THIS is what’s needed.

Add YOUR name to our petition and we'll deliver it to them, and let you know what response we get and what action, if any, is sparked by this.

Fred was a tireless advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to have the same access to eye health as other Australians.

We know that we can make a difference.

Our work, along with others in the eye health community, has helped reduce the rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders go blind from 10 times more than other Australians to three times.

But Fred would be outraged that, more than 40 years after he took up the fight, the gap has still not been closed. He’d be telling us to get it done once and for all.

So join us, let your voice be heard, and sign this petition now so we can make a loud demand for action to #ClosetheGap in eye health.

Authorised by A. Hill, The Fred Hollows Foundation, Sydney

Demand action now

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Phone:	Personal information is collected to send updates about our work, which may include fundraising appeals. Our privacy policy outlines how you can access or correct your personal information, who we disclose it to, and how we store it. By signing this pledge, you confirm you are over 18 years of age. You can change how we contact you at any time by emailing [email protected], calling 1800 352 352), or writing to us at Supporter Services, The Fred Hollows Foundation, Locked Bag 5021, Alexandria NSW 2015. Authorised by A. Hill, The Fred Hollows Foundation, Sydney