Jul 3, 2019

It has been more than 50 years since the Referendum changing the Australian constitution to extend full citizenship and the right to vote to Indigenous Australians, and New Zealand was a trailblazer in extending the vote both to women and to Maori people in the 19th Century. Nevertheless, every few years we face a new reminder that the Indigenous people of both countries still face significant barriers in most of the areas contributing to general health and wellbeing like the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and the movement for a Voice to Parliament.

The August 2019 Australasian Psychiatry podcast features an interview with Professor Helen Milroy, descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and Professor of the University of Western Australia, undertaken during the RANZCP Congress in Cairns. During the interview we discuss issues arising from the Congress session on "Indigenous healing and psychiatry", and the need to develop new ways of thinking about and addressing Maori, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing.