The lack of improvement in Indigenous health in Australia is in contrast to the improvements seen among indigenous people elsewhere in the world who experience a similar colonial legacy. This contrast has been ascribed to a number of features of Australia's post-colonial history: (Kunitz 1994)

- Shifting responsibility for Aboriginal affairs between Commonwealth and State governments;

- Tension in State interests over land and management of the Indigenous population;

- An official policy of assimilation that discouraged the creation of specialised Indigenous health programs; and

- Competition for federal health funding between State and non-State bodies, which has impaired coordination.