I, Ryley Park, hereby nominate for a board director position on the IAHA Northern Territory workforce development board of directors. I am nominating for this position because as a born and raised Territorian of Aboriginal heritage I understand the challenges and impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health and wellbeing. I am a descendant of the Eastern Arrernte people of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), and my family was subjected to the government policies of the day which included the stolen generation. My great grandmother was one of the first young children taken away from her mother on Undoolya Station and sent to the Bungalow at the site of the old Alice Springs Jail. The consequences of this can be felt in many ways across the generations in my family and very much reflect the challenges for Aboriginal people across the NT.

I grew up in Darwin and I had access to a good education, healthy food, a safe home, clean water, and a strong family network. These are critical areas for the social determinants of health ensuring that a child has the best start in life. Aboriginal people in the NT experience high rates of racism, social disadvantage, poverty, and low rates of health literacy. These are all factors that contribute to poor health, high rates of mortality and high rates of unemployment in comparison to non-Indigenous Territorians.

As a child I spent time at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) because my mother worked there. In my many visits to the hospital it was evident there was a disparity between the health of Aboriginal Territorians, Torres Strait Islander Territorians and non-Indigenous Territorians. While Indigenous Australians in the NT account for 30 per cent of the population they represent almost 70 per cent of consumers accessing NT hospitals. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Territorians struggle with the impacts of colonisation and intergenerational trauma including alcohol and drug addiction, high rates of domestic violence, mental health, and high rates of suicide.

My work experiences have been many. Working as a cleaner at the hospital, as a student speech pathologist, as a new graduate speech pathologist at RDH and currently working as a speech pathologist for Early Start Australia in Garramilla (Darwin) with children – have all brought me into contact with Indigenous Territorians. This year I have been providing fly in fly out speech pathology services to children and adults in Tennant Creek via Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation. These experiences working in health have improved my understanding of the contemporary issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health, employment, and the importance of attracting more Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander people to study and work in Allied Health, Health, Education, and other industries.

I was also a board director for IAHA NT workforce development for 2024. I added valuable insight to improve IAHA’s strategic direction on increasing education and employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the NT. I also provided information to further develop IAHA’s image and reputation within the NT.

I have the competence and experience to continue to add to the current and emerging strategic requirements for IAHA, because I have a strong understanding of the health and wellbeing issues in the NT. This comes from growing up in the NT through to working in the NT.

Improving health outcomes for Aboriginal Territorians is one of the reasons I returned to the NT after graduating from university. I can effectively contribute to the performance of IAHA and drive the performance of IAHA’s strategies with the aim of improving the education and health opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

I am currently an executive member on the Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) NT branch, and I am also the Early Start Australia representative for the RAP working group for APM Group. These positions have helped me to develop prioritization skills to differentiate between government and management functions of organisations and awareness of when board discussions can drift into operational matters.

I was previously in the new graduate position for the SPA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee where I provided strategic direction to SPA on how they can support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander new graduate and early career speech pathologists.

I will continue to bring to this position the knowledge and experience of understanding the issues in the NT and my communication skills would be an asset to help develop IAHA’s NT workforce and support stakeholder engagement with non-Indigenous organizations, with the aim to increase Indigenous employment opportunities within the health, education and other sectors within the NT.