Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation reported that government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and hospital service expenditure per person in 2010e11 was $8190 nationally, and as high as $16 110 in the Northern Territory, compared with $4054 per non-Indigenous person. 1 Increasing expenditure on health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is not closing the gap in health outcomes at the rate to which governments have committed. 2

Gaps in education and employment outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and other Australians are also not closing, despite significant investment. Overall employment indicators for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are deteriorating. 2 Comprehensive lack of progress in the three key areas of education, employment and health highlights the interplay among these three areas. Transformative changes in our approaches to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are needed. 3