The new federal minister responsible for Indigenous health said the pandemic has contributed to missing a goal of eliminating eye disease trachoma.
Australia is the most developed country in the world where trachoma — which causes blindness and is linked to poor face hygiene — is still prevalent.
New Assistant Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has declared overcoming trachoma is one of her priorities in the job, but said would need to fully appreciate the situation before she could set a timeline.
"This is going to be an absolute priority for me and I will be travelling the country to talk to those experts to see what we can do to eradicate this scourge," she said.
In 2009, the Rudd Labor government pledged to eliminate the eye disease by 2020.
Since then, Cambodia, Ghana, Mexico and more have achieved the feat. But in Australia, the disease persists.
The target was pushed back to 2022, but it is now clear Australia will not meet the commitment.
The previous Coalition government announced a new target of 2025 to eliminate all avoidable blindness in Indigenous Australians, including beating trachoma.
Nick Wilson from the Indigenous Eye Health unit at the University of Melbourne said there was much more work to be done.
"There are a number of what we call hot spot communities, where the rates of trachoma are above 20 per cent," he said.
"We don't want people waiting six months for taps to be fixed … the health hardware, the taps, sinks, all of that — that's a really important element of it as well."
Federal Labor pledged hundreds of millions of dollars for housing in remote communities in the lead-up to the election.
But Senator McCarthy noted the pandemic has had an impact on many health programs.
"I'm incredibly mindful we're still in a pandemic with COVID, and I know that many communities across the country were isolated and the ability for trachoma and any other health programs to be carried out was severely limited, if not completely stopped, and we have to recognise that.
"What I would like to see in my role as Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health is to ensure that we pick it up again and run with it, to get rid of trachoma in our country."
Demons pitch in
The Melbourne Demons AFL club visited communities around Alice Springs in the lead-up to their match on the weekend against Port Adelaide.
President Kate Roffey said the trachoma situation was a "blight on Australia".
"We're trying to focus on actually showing that we can do things to make an impact, because that will get the ball rolling and others will start to do more out here."
It was the first time since the pandemic began that the Demons had been able to travel to the Northern Territory.
Last year's traditional Alice Springs match was moved to Sydney.
The Demons' Indigenous projects officer and former AFL player Matthew Whelan said the club was glad it could use the profile of its players to help get the message across.
"It's all about having great hygiene, clean faces and strong eyes, which is the slogan," he said.
"Australia being the only First World country that still has trachoma, it's a pretty sad indictment."
