He said the AHMRC was now working with the state government to urgently amend the public health order requiring health workers to be vaccinated by October because the Aboriginal community-controlled health sector was left out.

“What it seems to me in terms of that public health order is that our Aboriginal community-controlled health services are not acknowledged as part of the health system in NSW and that has to change,” Dr Malouf said.

He argued that 90 to 100 per cent of the Indigenous community needed to be vaccinated before the state reopened.

The controller of NSW Health’s State Health Emergency Operations Centre, Susan Pearce, did not explain why the Minister or Chief Health Officer had not met with the AHMRC, but she did say her Department had been in contact.

“My understanding is that the centre for Aboriginal Health here at NSW Health has been involved in discussions with the ACCHOs and other Aboriginal groups, which is obviously very important,” she said.

“There have also been discussions with the Commonwealth.”

The inquiry also heard that extra emergency accommodation for people to isolate away from their families in overcrowded housing was sent to Wilcannia far too late.

The mayor of Broken Hill told the inquiry that the spread of the virus in overcrowded housing in the far west should have been planned for given how well known the problem was.

“People have spoken to me and believe, public health experts in the past believe, that the failure to act adequately in advance is tantamount to genocide,” Cr Darriea Turley said.

She argued decades of underfunding for health and housing services in Aboriginal communities had laid the groundwork for the crisis.

“The deep cuts to funding, the disrespect these communities are being given, the lack of planning, has made them vulnerable,” she said.

“I’m struggling to believe that over the years as I watched all the fireworks in Sydney and all the investment in those capital cities, that those communities in the far west, the First Nations people, all see this drip-feeding of funding and bandaid services.”

People in the town have struggled with having to isolate in overcrowded housing, and a serious lack of access to food and basic groceries since the outbreak began last month.

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Wilcannia community spokeswoman, Aunty Monica Kerwin, said locals felt like there was a lack of clear communication from the government.

“I believe there’s a lot of anger, confusion, a lot of misunderstanding of what’s happening here and also around what is the next step,” Ms Kerwin said.

She also criticised the government for taking weeks to send motorhomes for people to safely isolate in away from their families.

“A month later they roll into town with bells and whistles with 30 mobile homes when COVID has already run rampant through our community,” Ms Kerwin said.

Ms Kerwin said she wanted the government to leave the motorhomes in Wilcannia until the town’s housing problems were fixed.

But Ms Pearce argued it only took NSW Health three weeks to organise the motorhomes, not a full month.

“Would we have liked that to be sooner? Certainly,” she said.

Ms Pearce said NSW Health had already organised isolation accommodation outside of Wilcannia, but brought in the motorhomes because members of the local community didn’t want to be taken away from their town.

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