The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) has expressed serious concerns about the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation’s (NACCHO) conduct ahead of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), set to take place in Canberra today.
Representatives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health organisations (ACCHOs) from across the nation will attend the AGM, and EGM where proposed amendments to NACCHO’s constitution will be debated.
QAIHC Chairman Matthew Cooke voiced his grave concerns about the potential impacts of the proposed changes, warning that they could undermine NACCHO's transparency, accountability, and community-controlled ethos.
“As the peak organisation representing our sector, NACCHO must be fair and transparent,” said Mr Cooke.
"Proposing amendments that prevent transparency or give NACCHO the ability to silence or stifle voices of dissent is an anathema to our values as community-controlled organisations.”
Mr Cooke emphasised the fundamental principles on which the sector was built, stating: “NACCHO must be about community-control, not controlling communities.”
The proposed amendments come at a time when NACCHO is positioning itself to take on a significant role in holding and commissioning funds.
However, Mr Cooke cautioned that this shift could lead to a conflict of interest if NACCHO attempts to balance its responsibilities as both a peak advocacy body and a fund holder.
“If NACCHO is to have a significant funds-holding and commissioning role, as it is clearly seeking to do, it must be a transparent and accountable organisation,” Mr Cooke said.
“It must also recognise that it cannot be both an effective peak body and a funds holder. These roles are incompatible. NACCHO can either advocate with neither fear nor favour for the sector and First Nations peoples, or it can hold and allocate funds—it can't do both.”
Highlighting the broader political context, Mr Cooke questioned the rationale behind such amendments.
“Transparency and accountability are what we demand of our governments,” he said.
“In the wake of the failed Voice Referendum and the retreat from treaty we are seeing in many states and territories, for NACCHO to contemplate constitutional amendments that make it a less transparent or accountable organisation in the current political environment — hell, in any political environment—is madness.”
QAIHC urged NACCHO members to carefully consider the implications of the proposed changes and ensure that the organisation remains steadfast in its commitment to the principles of community control, transparency, and accountability.
Mr Cooke denied entry to AGM and EGM
“This morning, NACCHO, acting through its Company Secretary, has taken the extraordinary step of declining my registration to today’s meetings, despite its current constitution affording me a clear right to register and attend as a Member Delegate,” said Mr Cooke.
“For NACCHO, the national peak body for our sector, to deny one of its members a voice, and our right to self-determination, in such an important conversation, despite it having no basis in its constitution, to do so is extraordinary and unprecedented”.
Media contact
Samantha Townsend
Communication Manager
E: samantha.townsend@qaihc.com.au
M: 0417 080 203
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