In time for NAIDOC week, CGU Insurance is proud to announce local St Kilda First Nations small business, Abstarr Consulting, as a winner in the 2020 CGU Kayku Kumpa awards program.

CGU Insurance is awarding Professor Gregory Phillips, owner of Abstarr Consulting, a $5,000 professional development grant. “I’m really proud to have been recognised as a winner of this year’s award. Receiving the
CGU grant will allow me to invest in further professional development in advanced organisational psychology and evaluation so that I can reach my business goals,” Professor Phillips said.

Abstarr Consulting works with communities, businesses and government to provide strategy solutions and training in cultural safety and decolonisation.
The business was founded by Professor Gregory Phillips, who is from the Waanyi and Jaru peoples. Professor Phillips leads change in decolonisation and belonging, including Aboriginal health, policy and social institutional transformation. CGU Indigenous Engagement Manager Phil Lockyer said: “We’re excited to announce Abstarr Consulting as a winner of our CGU Kayku Kumpa awards program. We were inspired by the innovative approach and progress Professor Phillips and his business has made towards closing the gap and delivering better outcomes for First Nations people and businesses.”

“As an insurer of businesses around Australia, we proudly support the ambition of small business owners. We were really impressed with the quality of entries we received from First Nations small business owners for our awards program this year, and congratulate all the winners,” Mr Lockyer said. The CGU Kayku Kumpa award takes its name from the local language of the Gringai people of the Wonnarua nation of the Hunter Valley in NSW. Kayku Kumpa (pronounced Kuy – koo Koom – pah) means ‘strong yesterday, stronger tomorrow’. It was chosen as it represents the opportunity for participants to become stronger business owners and help create a better future for themselves, their communities and their business.

The five winners of the CGU Kayku Kumpa Awards are:

• Abstarr Consulting – A consulting agency that works with communities, businesses and governments to provide strategy solutions and training in cultural safety and decolonisation. abstarr.com
• Barra-gi – An agency that sources and creates employment opportunities, provides mentoring services and creates job-ready programs for Indigenous people by partnering with non-Indigenous businesses in the corporate and private sector. barragi.com.au
• Little Black Duck Aus – A creative business that makes unique Aboriginal handpainted teapots, serving boards, terracotta pots and wall art. littleblackduckaus.com/
• Luggarrah – An education management business that runs events and workshops in regional areas to upskill First Nations people and communities, and provide them with career opportunities within the technology industry. luggarrah.com.au
• Yellow Balloon – A marketing and digital agency that specialises in helping small and medium businesses across Australia succeed through connected marketing strategies that create enduring customer connections. Yellowballoon.com.au

About CGU
CGU is a leading business, rural and personal insurance company and a top-three provider of workers compensation insurance.
CGU distributes an extensive range of market-leading products and each year delivers their customers the insurance protection for more than 125,000 businesses, over 60,000 farms and hobby farms, nearly half a million properties and over one million motor vehicles. CGU is proudly backed by IAG, the largest general insurer in Australia and New Zealand. CGU is proud of its 165-year history of supporting customers in a time of need.

CGU Indigenous Engagement Manager Phil Lockyer said: “As an insurer of businesses around Australia, we proudly support the ambition of small business owners. We were really impressed with the quality of entries we received from many unique and innovative First Nations small businesses.

“We know it’s been a tough year for many small businesses due to the pandemic, so we’re proud to be able to support the growth and skills development of five First Nations small business owners each with a $5,000 grant….”. Read more here.

“For the last two years Gold Coast Health has been implementing the Creative Conversations on Race training program in an effort to improve the cultural safety for staff and patients. Coordinator of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service, Melissa Browning, says the training program is successfully challenging racist attitudes and beliefs.

Professor Gregory Phillips is the Chief Executive Officer of ABSTARR, an Aboriginal owned and operated consultancy firm and a Professor of First Peoples Health in the School of Medicine, Griffith University (adjunct). Professor Phillips says racism in Australia’s healthcare sector has negative effects on Indigenous health outcomes.”

Listen to the full episode here…

In a year shaped by climate disasters and a pandemic, Australia’s most powerful sporting organisation – the Australian Football League (AFL) – continues to be confronted by another foundational issue: systemic racism.

At issue is not only the question of how the Australian sports industry engages with the Black Lives Matter movement, but also the continued failure of key Australian organisations to adequately reflect on, and reform, their own colonial values and power structures. Read more here…

Dr Danielle Arabena recently spoke with medical
anthropologist and thought-leader Professor Gregory Phillips about Indigenous health equality and the importance of health professionals working with Indigenous knowledge being appropriately supported by the health care and governance systems they are working within.

Gregory acknowledged there is confusion around the meaning of terms cultural safety, cultural awareness, cultural competence, cultural capability, culturally appropriate, cultural awareness and cultural proficiency.

“Put simply, cultural safety is not about culture, it is about racism and sovereignty. Cultural safety refers to addressing racism and unconscious bias in the enabling environment delivering policy or services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples…”. Read more here.

In this episode of Indigenous Health MedTalk Professor Gregory Phillips discusses ‘Unconscious bias, cultural safety and racism in health: How we heal a broken system’ with host Dr Danielle Arabena.

Excerpt: “On the show today we talk to Professor Gregory Phillips, a change-maker, thought-leader and medical anthropologist. We spoke about issues such as cultural safety, Indigenous health equality, western medical science and the importance of working in an Indigenous knowledge basis.”

Tune in to Indigenous Health MedTalk for more topics related to women’s and men’s health, family health and wellness, mental health, sexual health and community innovations related to and affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Hosted by Dr Danielle Arabena: the Medical Educator for the Indigenous Health Training Team at General Practice Training Queensland. Danielle speaks to innovators, trail blazers and community leaders in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and medicine. A podcast, not exclusively for Medical Doctors, but anyone with an interest in Indigenous health.

Listen to Indigenous Health MedTalk online or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.

The Black Magic Woman Podcast is an uplifting conversational style program featuring mainly First Nations people from Australia and around the world.

Listen to the episode here.

Thursday marked the release of a new strategy prioritising cultural safety in the health system brought forward by First Nations health experts, regulators and health organisations.

The National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020-2025 focuses on Indigenous patient clinical and cultural safety.

Presented by Ahpra (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) and National Boards, the strategy was endorsed by 43 organisations, academics and individuals.

With the four objectives of cultural safety, increased participation, greater access and influence, the strategy has already achieved some of its targets, including:

  • Partnering with the National Health Leadership Forum to develop a baseline definition of cultural safety
  • Commissioning a high-quality cultural safety training
  • Recommending and advocating for changes to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.

See more…

Gregory Phillips joins host Ellen Fanning and panel members Philip Ruddock, Jane Fynes-Clinton and Rabia Siddique to discuss new research on Australian jihadis, the health impact of bushfire smoke plus Prince Andrew steps back from public life.

Watch here…