Page 1145 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The theme for the 2012 Close the Gap Day is “Campaigning for Indigenous health equality—power through partnership”. This means genuine, meaningful partnership with Indigenous people at all stages of health planning and delivery. The ACT government, along with all other Australian governments, has signed up to work in partnership with Indigenous people to deliver more targeted, more sustainable, better governed services under COAG’s sustainable national Indigenous reform agenda.
This reform agenda ambitiously sets out to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage within a generation across many sectors. Since 2008, through COAG, all levels of government have worked together to lay the foundations for coordinated effort to close the gap by committing to the following targets within a generation: closing the gap in life expectancy; halving the gap in mortality rates for children under five within a decade; ensuring access to early childhood education for all Indigenous four-year-olds in remote communities within five years; halving the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for children within a decade; halving the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment or equivalent by 2020; and halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and other Australians within a decade.
The Prime Minister’s third annual closing the gap report was released last month. It shows that across Australia we are on track to achieving these targets. There is good news particularly in education and early childhood. However, closing the gap in life expectancy by 2031, a key indicator for healthy lives, remains the most challenging target of all.
As we know, Indigenous disadvantage has many causes. It is a legacy of our nation’s history of dispossession and past policies of segregation and removal of children. These have prompted apologies in most jurisdictions, including in our own Legislative Assembly in 1997. This led finally to the national apology in 2008. But addressing these national failings is just the beginning.
Through COAG, we have acknowledged that entrenched disadvantage in Indigenous communities is the result of misguided policies and a profound failure to respect and consult the people who these policies were intended to benefit. The COAG commitment to close the gap will address decades of under-investment in services and infrastructure; confused responsibilities between levels of government; and ad hoc, poorly targeted programs.
We recognise that strategies aimed at achieving improvements in any one area will not work in isolation. To achieve health equality and overcome disadvantage, all governments have agreed to maintain a sustained collaborative effort across seven “building blocks” to build better lives. These seven interrelated areas are early childhood, education, housing, employment, safety, governance and leadership, and health.
This solution does not depend solely on money. Good governance, accountability and genuine engagement with Indigenous peoples are all preconditions for success. And genuine engagement means genuine respect for an ancient and ever-evolving culture.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video