As a young, naive GP, I was shocked when I ventured into Aboriginal healthcare and first realised that health wasn’t necessarily considered a priority in many people’s lives.

If one does not have the basics of food and shelter, health takes a backseat.

If one’s life has become chaotic, besieged by financial or legal problems, or overwhelming grief, health issues move down the ladder of importance.

I never imagined that in my lifetime there would be an expansion of the segments of the Australian population in which health is viewed as a subsidiary consideration.