NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy backs new Closing the Gap agreement

NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy has backed the new Closing the Gap draft agreement to be presented to the National Cabinet, which would hand unprecedented levels of power and funding to Indignenous-led organisations

NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy has backed the new Closing the Gap Draft Agreement to go before the National Cabinet. Picture: Justin Kennedy

NT SENATOR Malarndirri McCarthy has backed the new Closing the Gap draft agreement to be presented to the National Cabinet, which would hand unprecedented power and funding to indigenous-led organisations across the country.

The plan, which was signed off by the Coalition of Peaks on Friday to be approved by the National Cabinet, includes new targets to reduce the number of indigenous people in custody.

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It comes after Senator McCarthy early last month called for the National Cabinet to address the high rates of incarceration of Aboriginal people and Aboriginal deaths in custody.

“We can search and strive to be the better part of our selves and we are doing that with COVID-19,” she told the NT News on June 8.

“I called on the Prime Minister and Senator Cormann to enable this issue to be part of the National Cabinet.”

She said the Coalition of Peaks was doing “important work” by bringing the agreement to the table.

“I commend the work of the Coalition of Peaks, led by Pat Turner, in being at the table with the Australian government to improve the lives of First Nations people,” she said.

“I look forward to actually seeing the final report, and to seeing a commitment on funding from the Australian government.”

But she added: “The government needs to be held accountable on progress — on housing, health, education and jobs. And that’s something that I’ll certainly be vigilant about in watching and asking questions on.”

AMSANT chief executive John Paterson, the NT representative for the Coalition of Peaks, said he was thrilled to see the draft agreement get the final tick of approval.

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“It’s overwhelming for me as a person who’s been working in this space for the last four decades,” he said.

“Prior to this we had the Closing the Gap agreement from 2008-2018 … it did not have any meaningful, active, genuine engagement from Aboriginal leadership, in comparison to this which has been driven by a coalition of over 40 Aboriginal-controlled organisations.”