In recognition of Reconciliation Week on 27 May to 3 June, Tonic Media Network, and its Aboriginal Health Television network, are stepping up to close the health gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first media company to publicly support a ‘Yes’ vote in the Voice Referendum.
With Australians being called to the polls to decide on whether a Voice to Parliament will be enshrined in the Constitution, Tonic Media Network will be fully aligning the company to support the ‘Yes’ campaign.
Tonic Media Network CEO, Richard Silverton, said the company’s board has taken this position as stewards of the Aboriginal Health Television (AHTV) brand and network. “The mission of AHTV is to improve the health and wellbeing of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” Silverton said. “We believe a ‘Yes’ vote for the Voice will do exactly that because it gives agency to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
“A neutral position, including accepting advertising from those supporting a ‘No’ vote, will only give oxygen to a ‘No’ campaign, which ultimately is in contradiction with our core purpose and mission.”
As part of the Australian Government’s commitment to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a Referendum will be held between October and December 2023 to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Constitution by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. The Australian population will vote on whether to change the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice*.
Dr Norman Swan, Australia’s most respected health journalist and broadcaster and Tonic Media Network’s co-founder and non-executive director, explained how social factors and individual thoughts and behaviours can affect outcomes for patients.
“When there is a health and well-being gap or differential in the population, research has shown there are more than just physical causes,” Dr Swan said. “There are psychosocial effects brought about by what psychologists call ‘locus of control’ – an individual’s belief as to whether their destiny is controlled by themselves or external forces. “If the locus of control sits externally with disadvantage, with lack of recognition, with racism, and with the inability to feel that you have a voice in public discourse, then that creates chronic stress and negative health outcomes in the body.
“Chronic stress causes certain hormones in the body to release, blood pressure to go up and the immune system to go on alert prematurely aging the body. It’s the sort of reaction that people get in warfare, but it lasts for years or a lifetime,” Dr Swan concluded. Aboriginal Health Television delivers culturally appropriate and relevant education and information inside Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) across Australia’s urban, regional, and remote Indigenous communities. Statistics around the health, wellbeing, and longevity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities compared to non-Indigenous Australians, are unacceptable.
“Overall, the life expectancy gap hasn’t moved in the past 10 years and is still 8.6 years less for Indigenous males and 7.8 years less for Indigenous females than non-indigenous Australians” Silverton said. “The gap between the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and non-indigenous communities is enormous in every dimension that you look at. And that is totally unacceptable to us.”
AHTV launched in 2018 with funding from the Federal Indigenous Health Promotion Grant. Today, via a network of 233 screens in 197 locations across urban, regional, rural and remote communities, AHTV reaches an audience of 507,493 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Australia-wide.
“Through AHTV, we empower positive health decisions and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by improving health literacy through the delivery of engaging, relevant health and wellbeing messaging and information directly to communities via respected voices in communities,” Silverton said.
22 May 2023 a recent in-practice survey of the network showed that 97 per cent of respondents found the content to be ‘very informative’; 93 per cent of respondents said they trust the content, and 92 per cent of respondents took positive action after seeing AHTV content. “We encourage everyone, whatever your view is on the Voice to Parliament, to get out and vote,” Silverton said.
