“Medical people come with their expertise, but Aboriginal people bring their lived experience, along with their experience as customary healers. It all has to come together.”

Dr Meredith, a Bidjara woman from southern Queensland, worries that the capacity for ill Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get back to full health is compromised by a narrow focus on the selection and delivery of medical care, without addressing people’s overall needs. “The recent news that federal, state and territory governments are set to hand back some of the control over health programs to empower communities is a watershed moment for the nation, but it also requires a new model of research translation and two-way knowledge exchange.”

Dr Meredith based her PhD research on how Aboriginal art centres are critical to maintain and improve health and happiness in remote communities. “My first-hand experiences helped me to understand what the priorities of individual people were before any research agenda could kick in. Going into community, you have to listen very deeply to conversations. While the art centres were beneficial, the people I met there were very sick. They weren’t just the subjects of my research. Their lives were at stake.”

Now, as the first PhD graduate of the Flinders Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, Dr Meredith is in a strong position to drive change through improved Indigenous health programs. “The great opportunity right now is how we train the current generation of students to be the next practitioners. It’s a transformative time; the University is implementing its first Reconciliation Action Plan, it has increased the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, and it’s why we have Indigenous Elders on campus, so that when a non-Indigenous person comes into our program, the first thing they see is an Aboriginal face.

Dr Meredith hopes it will serve as a beacon to other institutions. “If it can start with a university, then why can’t the same type of inclusion extend into other institutions, like health and hospitals? Commitment has to come from everyone if there is a genuine desire to change. Without that aspect of working together, it’s never going to work.”

Dr Meredith believes effective health delivery can be an important signal of how Australia reconciles in the future, and a significant part is a health system that respects Indigenous community approaches. “We don’t go into a community unless we are invited. We don’t impose our ideas. Instead, we accept their invitation, either from individuals or from communities. That’s the first step of respect.” Due to this, invitations for the Poche Centre to work with communities are coming thick and fast.

Her focus is on turning research into policy changes. “It’s so important that this research doesn’t sit still.” Where will the wins come? “Well, I’m meeting the health minister this week,” Dr Meredith says, explaining her advocacy for an Indigenous arts and health framework in the NT that will sit separate to the national framework and clearly articulate the priorities for people in the NT.

Change is in motion.