Thank you and your reflection has reassured me that there is still some hope that universities will be able to serve the common good rather than serve a neoliberal economy which has been my impression since coming back to ANU. In the meantime, you are dead right, unfortunately, that poor planning and lack of prioritisation of vulnerable people has led to a serious gap in vaccination rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The vaccination rates of Indigenous people are still very low in some jurisdictions and LGAs, including in the NT and FNQ and this poses a serious threat. Moreover, second doses will need to be administered in many remote communities over the Christmas period by a tired workforce and then third boosters will need to be organised. While vaccine hesitancy is being blamed for the low rates, in fact supply was late to remote communities, the logistics surrounding administering the vaccine are much more complicated and a community development approach wasnt implemented to begin with. It is not the fault of Indigenous people that they are in this situation despite this impression given by the media. National Indigenous leaders including Peter Yu, ANU’s First Nations Vice President, have written to the Prime Minister seeking a discussion about the strategy to close the gap but no response has been received. I think a Royal Commission into Australia’s response to the pandemic is needed.

Regards

Brian Stacey
Professor in Practice of Public Administration
First Nations Portfolio ANU