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Our Story

The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) is a living embodiment of the aspirations of Aboriginal communities and their struggle for self-determination.

NACCHO is the national peak body representing 144 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) across the country on Aboriginal health and well being issues. It has a history stretching back through nearly five decades, to a meeting in Albury in 1974.

NACCHO’s History

1971

  • The first ACCHO – Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service – was established
  • The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was erected in Canberra, outside the former Parliament House
  • After the 1967 Referendum, the 1971 census included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

1972

  • First census to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

1973

  • The first national ‘Ten Year Plan for Aboriginal Health’ was developed by the Whitlam Government

1975

  • NACCHO’s predecessor, the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation (NAIHO) was formed
  • The Racial Discrimination Act was enacted
  • Medibank was established

1977

  • About ten ACCHOs were operating
  • The CDEP scheme was implemented in regional and remote Australia

1978

  • An Aboriginal delegation travels to Kazakhstan and influences the WHO Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care with its community-controlled model

1979

  • The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs’ Report on Aboriginal Health recognises that the social determinants of health are fundamental to improving health outcomes

1984

  • Commonwealth funding for Aboriginal health was consolidated within the Department of Aboriginal Affairs with a plan to fund ACCHOs direct

1987

  • The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was established (report delivered in 1991)

1989

  • A ‘National Aboriginal Health Strategy’ was drafted by an Aboriginal-led health working group

1990

  • ATSIC was established by the Hawke Government, bringing many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and policies under the one portfolio agency

1992

  • NACCHO was established, replacing NAIHO as the national peak
  • Eddie Mabo’s seminal victory in the High Court
  • Paul Keating’s ‘Redfern speech’ (first acknowledgement by the Australian Government of the dispossession of its First Peoples)

1993

  • The Native Title Act was enacted

1997

  • NACCHO established a permanent secretariat in Canberra with government funding
  • The Bringing Them Home Report (Stolen Generation) was published

1999

  • Special arrangements were put in place to allow for the supply of pharmaceuticals covered by the PBS to clients of remote ACCHOs

2003

  • A national footprint of 140 ACCHOs had been achieved
  • The Productivity Commission’s first Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report was released

2005

  • ATSIC was decommissioned by the Howard Government and the short-lived Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination was established

2007

  • NITV was launched
  • The Howard Government initiated the NT intervention

2008

  • Prime Minister Rudd delivered the National Apology to the Stolen Generation
  • Prime Minister Rudd signed the Closing the Gap Statement and the first agreement was set in place

2014

  • The first Abbott-Hockey Budget decreases funding of Aboriginal programs by $500m

2016

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders came to together to issue the Redfern Statement, calling for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander autonomy, and community control
  • The failed Closing the Gap ‘Refresh’ process commenced

2017

  • The Uluru Statement from the Heart was provided to the Australian people
  • A new National Funding Agreement for the sector was implemented

2018

  • The Coalition of Peaks formed (led by NACCHO) to get the Closing the Gap process back on track and ensure genuine community engagement

2020

  • ACCHOs are delivering 3.1m episodes of care each year
  • The COVID-19 pandemic is declared by WHO
  • A new National Agreement on Closing the Gap was signed by all Australian Governments and the Coalition of Peaks

In mid 2006, the Indigenous population of Australia reached 500,000, the number often quoted as the population prior to colonisation. The 500,000 milestone is both a symbolic and real victory for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survival.