An estimated 35 000 fewer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults smoked every day in 2014–15 compared with if daily smoking remained at 2004–05 prevalence. This substantial reduction will lead to thousands of lives saved.

The number of smoking-related deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is predicted to continue to increase, and to peak over the next decade, resulting in thousands of premature deaths.

Factors influencing obesity are not confined to the health portfolio, argues this paper. Instead the factors occur across portfolios including housing, education, employment, social welfare and community development. Executive summary What is the problem? Obesity rates are higher among Indigenous, compared to non-Indigenous, Australians, and this problem begins in early childhood. If this trend of...