Prime Minister says only five closing the gap targets on track to be met, four are worsening
‘If Closing the Gap was a business, it would be broke’, says one not-for-profit, who are predicting the policy will ‘broadly fail’ unless drastic action is taken.
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Only five Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met – and four are worsening – with the whole policy expected to “broadly fail” “on this current trajectory” unless the government genuinely engages, according to one not-for-profit.
Of the 19 Closing the Gap targets, “only five” are on track to be met by 2031, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament on Monday.
“The latest Productivity Commission reporting shows that we are seeing improvements on 11 of the 19 targets in the National Agreement,” he said.
“As the Closing the Gap report routinely lays bare, there are still too many areas in which we are not together.”
Current data from the Productivity Commission shows the four targets worsening are: children thriving; criminal justice; child protection; and social and emotional wellbeing.
The data in the social and emotional wellbeing targe shows 29.9 per 100,000 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australians took their own life, a 5.2 per cent increase from the last reporting period.
Of the 11 targets reporting an improvement, the data showed five targets were on track for completion: land and waters; economic participation; early childhood education; long and healthy lives; and children being born healthy and strong.
In the Territory, eight of the 19 targets are going backwards – the NT the worst outcome of any Australian jurisdiction.
In a statement, a spokesperson for not-for-profit Children’s Ground said the PM’s announcement “highlights government’s stubborn reluctance to step away from business-as-usual and genuinely engage with grassroots, community-led and owned solutions”.
“If Closing the Gap was a business, it would be broke. Our people are a captive audience who rely on government investment in communities. If this isn’t done right, as we see with the current results, they suffer the harsh realities.
“In the 16 years since the statement of intent for Closing the Gap was signed, federal, state and territory governments are failing to achieve critical reform needed for First Nations people to live with basic dignity. On this current trajectory, the Closing the Gap Policy will broadly fail within its time frame of achieving outcomes by 2030/31.”
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