In 2024, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) would like to reinforce our commitment to recognising the rights and sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples through real action.
 
We understand that this commitment takes more than just words, however heartfelt they may be, and requires comprehensive and system-wide action to ensure these rights are visible and active within the fabric and structure of our organisation. We have listened to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders within our College, and we are working with them to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance within our training program.
 
The RACGP has long understood that recognition of rights and sovereignty are an essential part of the process to close the gap on health inequalities. We’ve been a public supporter of the Uluru Statement from the Heart since 2018.
 
The resilience and strength that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have exhibited in the face of the ongoing challenges and exclusion brought about by colonisation must be acknowledged.
 
 The comprehensive knowledge, systems and cultural practices that supported this resistance and provided healing as a central part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures for over 60,000 years, must now provide a basis for how we can all learn and move forward.
 
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical and cultural leaders within the RACGP have proudly led and developed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural and Health Training Framework. This Framework, while grounded in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led research, also incorporates and honours the lived experience of those whose lives reflect the issues outlined in that research every single day.
 
The RACGP recognises it has a role to play in truth telling, about how the medical profession has been part of the colonizing structures that have depicted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as responsible for health disparities, without taking into account the structural barriers and unequal access to power and resources that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have faced.
 
This Framework is part of the process to change these narratives that continue to impact not only the wider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, but the people who work within the RACGP and their families. The Framework is as much about change within our organisation and contributing to the individual journey towards healing as it is about the broader health system level outcomes.

We want to acknowledge our partnership within the Joint Colleges Training Services Pty Ltd (JCTS), a joint venture with the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM). Both Joint Colleges Training Services and ACRRM have played important roles in contributing to the development of the Framework and will be key in its implementation.
 
The RACGP Board and Executive welcome the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural and Health Training Framework as an integral part of
our education governance and encourage all our members and staff to embrace this important step forward in reconciliation and learning.

Dr Nicole Higgins

Dr Lara Roeske

Ms Georgina van de Water