6 days ago
Queensland Health faces class action over allegations of systemic racial discrimination
Thursday Island Hospital is managed by Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service, which is facing allegations of racial discrimination in the class action. Credit: AARON BUNCH /AAPIMAGE A class action against Queensland Health has been launched in the federal court alleging systemic racism at two remote Hospital and Health Services. Litigators, JGA Saddler Lawyers, say there are clear breaches of the Racial Discrimination Act by North-West Hospital and Health Service (NWHHS) and the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS).
The NWHHS and TCHHS service 47 of Queensland's most remote communities, many of which have high populations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The case alleges that racial discrimination resulted in substandard health care being provided which in some cases, led to death. JGA Saddler director Rebecca Jancauskas said the team would examine healthcare provision over three decades as part of the lawsuit, from December 1996 to March 2025. She said evidence dating from this time shows instances of ongoing systemic racism.
'We've heard horrible, harrowing stories of people who've been turned away and who have suffered extreme outcomes as a result,' she said. 'Their health has suffered, and in some cases, they've passed away as a result of the care that has been doled out. 'We will say that this can very clearly be distinguished between allegations in terms of an overloaded or inappropriate health system. 'We say the evidence will show that this is racial discrimination.' Ms Jancauskas said while the lawsuit was based on experiences of racial discrimination, there was room to amend the case's scope, with allegations of negligence expected as well.
Prominent human rights barrister Joshua Creamer has been engaged to represent the interests of the claimants. Earlier in the year Mr Creamer was involved in community meetings in the Torres Strait, which heard from community members on the matter. Mabuyag and Murray Island Elder Tassi McDonald recounted her experience working in health, opining that the system had changed for the worst. 'It's gone – the health system has gone flat – I see it in front of my eyes, because I'm an old health worker,' she said.
'There are more white nurses and white doctors.' Ms McDonald said she believed the Torres Model of Care, which allowed her to work out in community as an Indigenous Health Worker, functioned best. 'When I first started working, we were all about prevention and it's all curative now,' she said. 'Curative is different: when you're sick, you go down to hospital. I know that my people out there I see every day, they still need help. 'I feel for my people, that they still have more people dying.'
Wakaid Tribal Council of Elders, who invited the lawyers to their community, say they are happy to work with them to interpret language. Wakaid Elder Robert 'Bongo' Sagigi, who has studied Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said Islanders had a right to 'free and prior, informed consent'. He called on the legal team to visit the outer islands of the Torres Strait where health issues are exacerbated by their remoteness. 'The lawyers have to go around to every island – [I told them], they got to do it, because we're talking about consent. 'Don't create things without consent and use data belonging to individuals to get money come through.'
Queensland's Minister for Health, Tim Nicholls, said he would not comment on matters before the court, but emphasised that racial discrimination was unacceptable. 'I've met with a number of the mayors [and] they have been very clear to both the Premier and myself of the challenges that we face there,' he said. In recent years, both the NWHHS and TCHHS have been investigated in relation to their treatment of Indigenous staff and patients. Some of these reports already cite instances of Indigenous staff and patients who've experienced discrimination in those services. Mr Nicholls said he was awaiting an investigation currently underway into the cultural safety of the TCHHS processes, with a report originally slated for release in June 2024 now due in mid-2025. 'Once we've got that, we'll then look at what action needs to be taken,' he said. 'I think those two pieces of work which should be implemented will go a long way to helping address the issues. 'That implementation group, which the Director General has established, is all about moving to the implementation of those recommendations.'
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