NAIDOC Week 2026: A reflection from Gayaa Dhuwi
9 July 2026
This NAIDOC Week, 50 Years of Deadly marks five decades of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, culture, truth-telling, resistance and achievement. The official theme reminds us that NAIDOC is not only about time passed, but the momentum still building when culture leads and community comes first.
In mental health, that leadership is not new. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been setting out clear priorities for culturally safe, community-led mental health reform for decades.
The Ways Forward Report in 1995 called for national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, self-determination, culturally safe care, trauma-informed responses and a strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health workforce. More than thirty years later, many of those priorities remain unfinished.
More than a decade has also passed since the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration set out a clear Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led approach to mental health, social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention.
The issue is not that the mental health system does not know what is needed. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have already identified the priorities, evidence and approaches required to improve mental health outcomes. What remains unfinished is the work of resourcing, embedding and implementing those solutions across the whole system.
That means moving beyond recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership to the practical conditions that allow it to shape change: sustained investment, cultural safety, shared decision-making, workforce development, community-led delivery, and accountability for outcomes.
These are also rights-based obligations, as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) affirms the rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination, culture, health, and to determine and develop health and social programs affecting them. In mental health, this means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership must shape decisions from the beginning, not be added after decisions have been made.
The Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration Framework and Implementation Plan 2025–2035 provides a practical, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led roadmap for change across the whole mental health system, from governments and regulators to hospitals, crisis services, primary care, tertiary care, non-Indigenous services, community-controlled organisations and workforces.
Fifty Years of Deadly reminds us that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership has always been here. The next step is delivery, as recognition must now become implementation, investment, cultural safety, accountability and action.
Rachel Fishlock is the CEO of Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing, mental health and suicide prevention.