Indigenous Activism and Health Care Reform with Les Collins

Indigenous Health MedTalk

On the show today we chat with Les Collins who shares his journey from growing up in Cherbourg to being a member of the Brisbane chapter of the Black Panthers. And who, through his advocacy, helped shape the legal system, housing and health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, nationally.

Mr Les Collins – Chair of the Board Aboriginal & Islander Health Training Advisory Committee (Kab-bai Committee)

Les Collins is one of the pioneers to address Indigenous health inequalities in Queensland. He helped develop a number of community controlled Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health services across Queensland. For 20 years, Les was the Queensland representative for the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (formerly National Aboriginal & Islander Health Organisation) and was a member of the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party which produced the National Aboriginal Health Strategy (NAHS) 1989.

For many years the NAHS was the official policy and action framework for addressing Indigenous health throughout Australia which led to many improvements in services for Indigenous people. Among these initiatives was Australia’s first Indigenous Health Curriculum for General Practice which Les helped develop.

Les was also heavily involved in establishing and managing a range of organisations that addressed the needs and aspirations of Indigenous communities in Queensland.

Les is also an Advisor to the Institute for Urban indigenous Health and a singer-songwriter/entertainer who has put two of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poems to music and written a song about the 2008 Apology to the Stolen Generations which can be viewed on Youtube.

Watch 'Great Moments' by Les Collins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RjXyQ3hnus