Call for doctors to partner with Australia's Indigenous people to demand climate action

A call to the medical profession to address the rising health inequity of Indigenous peoples due to climate change and ally with them to bring climate litigation for action on emissions reduction, has come from Torres Strait Islander and QUT public health academic Francis Nona.

Mr. Nona, writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, set out the case for doctors to advocate for climate justice to address the burden of disease on Australia's Indigenous peoples who already carry a 2.3 times greater burden than non-Indigenous people.

"For medical professionals, the law is central to protecting the environment and climate on which human health depends," he said.

"We invite medical professionals to learn from recent climate litigation cases and listen deeply to Indigenous people, become allies and embrace legal and cultural literacy as core to achieving health equity for Indigenous people.

"In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are being disproportionately affected by direct and indirect health consequences right now, from bushfires and floods to worsening disparities in food security, safe drinking water and air quality.

"Strategic climate litigation is one way to hold governments and corporations accountable for climate-related health harms.

"Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) exemplify the profession's capacity to engage with upstream determinants of health.

"The DEA, in a recent case, sought to reduce emissions on the basis that 'climate change is already hurting people and making them sick. As clinicians, DEA members are treating the impacts of climate on health in our daily work.'

"The United Nations Human Rights Committee found the Australian Government in breach of its human rights obligations after eight Torres Strait Islanders brought a landmark complaint arguing that climate inaction impacts on health, leads to diminished food security, safe drinking water and reduced mental health due to displacement stress and cultural loss."

Mr. Nona's stance is informed by his analysis of rights-based mechanisms available to litigants in the discussion paper, "Indigenous-led rights-based approaches to climate litigation" for the Lowitja Institute.

"Queensland has enabled human rights legislation, though not explicitly implemented the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), while Queensland's Human Rights Act 2019 requires consideration of the effect of decisions on the cultural rights of Indigenous people including their connection to land.

"Without a national Human Rights Act and UNDRIP unlegislated, Indigenous climate justice claims in Australia often rely on international human rights principles, such as self-determination and free, prior, and informed consent.

"Native Title legislation is another potential legal mechanism after a 2024 decision on a gas project on Country ruled that the 'public interest test' must include climate change risks when considering approval on Native Title Land."

Nona said that to achieve climate justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, medical professionals must listen deeply so they can not only respond to harm but also work together with those trying to prevent it and join Indigenous people in allyship.

"Such listening may open pathways for partnerships with Indigenous-led movements, structural advocacy and the integration of legal and cultural literacy into medical practice.

"Medical professionals can enter allyship using their clinical authority and expert testimony to amplify those most affected and support strengthening communities' connections to Country.

"Medicine cannot wait until the impending climate crisis. As trusted messengers with ethical scaffolding, medical professionals can engage with Indigenous-led advocacy, respect Indigenous knowledge systems and see climate justice as inseparable from health justice."

Mr. Nona's article, "Hearing justice through the stethoscope: advocacy, climate change and Medicine's upstream responsibilities," was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

More information:
Francis Nona et al, Hearing Justice Through a Stethoscope: Advocacy, Climate Change and Medicine's Upstream Responsibilities, Medical Journal of Australia (2026). DOI: 10.5694/mja2.70147

Provided by Queensland University of Technology