Welcome
to the NIHLA
Leading Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing
About the NIHLA
On the 17 September the National Health Leadership Forum changed its name to the National Indigenous Health Leadership Alliance.
NIHLA, formerly the National Health Leadership Forum, is a partnership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing organisations committed to dismantling systemic barriers within Australia’s mainstream health system. NIHLA was established in response to the 2005 Social Justice Report and has evolved as a leading voice advocating for equitable health and wellbeing outcomes through Indigenous-led strategies.
Our work aligns with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan, and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The Alliance drives strategic reforms, including the integration of cultural determinants of health and accountability mechanisms, ensuring Indigenous voices lead the decisions affecting their health and wellbeing. We hold expertise across health, aged care and disability policy and service delivery, as well as workforce, research, organisational and business development, healing, mental health, and social, cultural, and emotional wellbeing.
Our Vision
Our vision is for the Australian health system to be free of racism and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people leading and determining their own solutions that are culturally informed and governed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. This Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander way of working can improve access to culturally safe and responsive health care services that are effective, high quality, appropriate and affordable.
No matter where we live, or who we are, every Australian should have access to a health system free of racism providing good culturally informed health care. Better health, Better and Longer lives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Our Purpose
Advance health and well-being of Indigenous peoples in Australia, guided by the principles and priorities of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and other relevant human rights frameworks such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
As per the National Agreement on Closing the Gap Priority Reform 3, to drive systemic and structural transformation of mainstream health systems.
Advocate for the recognition and protection of the health rights of Indigenous peoples outlined in UNDRIP and CRPD, ensuring access to culturally appropriate, inclusive and equitable healthcare services.
Empower Indigenous Communities to exercise their rights to self-determination, enabling them to lead and make informed decision about their bodies, their health and the health care systems that serve them.
Foster multi-party commitments on culturally informed and safe approaches to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services and programs.
Our Guiding Principles
The NIHLA, in all its work and deliberations as senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders, is guided by the following principles:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander concepts of health and concepts of wellbeing and mental health.
- Informed, connected and representative.
- Empowerment and self-determination and nation building.
- Provide strategic advice, leadership and Indigenous knowledge from a strength-based position.
- Unity whilst recognising autonomy.
- Mutual regard and respect for each other’s unique contributions by valuing diversity.
- Cultural inclusion, accessibility, safety and responsiveness.
- Continuous quality improvement, best practice and evidence-based.
- Transparent, open and willing to share information.
History of the NIHLA
In 2024, the NHLF changed its name to the National Indigenous Health Leadership Alliance to better reflect that we are a partnership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations working to make Australia’s health system more equitable and culturally safe.
In March 2006, the first meeting of the leadership for the Close the Gap Campaign was held. It was through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander member organisations that led to the Committee and the original Campaign’s Steering Committee.
This leadership group was the precursor for the formal establishment of the National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF) in August 2011.
The Australian Human Rights Commission provided the secretariat support for the Close the Gap Campaign and the NHL, with funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health, up until 2019.
Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) is the current host of the NIHLA secretariat and the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP) the current host for the secretariat for the Close the Gap Campaign.
In addition to being part of the Indigenous leadership group for the Close the Gap Campaign, some of the NIHLA members are also part of the Coalition of Peaks, for the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
NIHLA led the development of the 2013-2023 and the 2021-2031 National Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander Health Plan, launched in December 2021. NIHLA also played a key role in the development of the 2021-2031 National Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander Health Workforce Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan, launched in March 2022.
The Health is the first national health policy to name racism and aims to drive holistic cultural determinants and social determinants approaches for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples health and wellbeing. The Health Plan takes an intersectional and rights-based approach to health equity and access.
A key health and wellbeing focus of the Health Plan is the implementation of prioritising access to person and family-centred care. This means more than recognising the multiple backgrounds, experiences and ways First Nations peoples identify. The way people identify, or live, impact people’s health and wellbeing needs and ability to access care. Delivery effective, efficient, and safe health care means that the health system and its workforce must understand and cater for the experiences and connection to Country of people living across urban, regional, rural, and remote locations, and for:
- people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans/transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, sistergirl and brotherboy (LGBTQIA+SB)
- people living with mental illness.
- People who are incarcerated
- people experiencing homelessness.
- People with disability
- speakers of First Nations languages
- Stolen Generations survivors
- young people
- children in care
- older people.
We will continue its work to push for a genuine partnership in health with government to provide strategic policy direction and drive a strengths-based and cross-cutting approach to health, social and emotional wellbeing policy.
National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINAM) were foundational members of the NHLF, but in 2021 and 2025 withdrew from the NIHLA respectively.
Our advocacy has proven affective with our contribution to the development of the 2026-2031 National Health Reform Agreement Schedule B Better Health Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
The NIHLA Chair position is now held by the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (May 2026 to 2028).
