Closing the Gap report shows plenty of work has to be done to help indigenous Territorians

INDIGENOUS Territorians are being left behind the rest of the country, the latest Closing the Gap report has shown

Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the Close the Gap parliamentary breakfast event at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: AAP IMAGE/MICK TSIKAS

INDIGENOUS Territorians are being left behind the rest of the country, the latest Closing the Gap report has shown.

The report, tabled in Parliament by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday, showed while small gains have been made nationally, things were still grim in the NT, where 30 per cent of the population is indigenous.

Speaking at an event in Canberra, Mr Turnbull yesterday said improving the lives of Aboriginal people was at the forefront of Government policy.

“My commitment is to do all that I can and the Government will do all that we can, to ensure that indigenous Australians play a central role in our nation’s success story in every respect,” he said.

But Mr Turnbull’s actions don’t measure up to his rhetoric. The Prime Minister has been to the NT just three times in this term of government.

One of those trips was a flying visit in which his only engagement was to speak at a CLP conference. His office didn’t respond to questions from the NT News by deadline yesterday.

Nationally, three closing the gap targets are on track to be met – to halve the gap in Year 12 attainment by 2020, halve the gap in child mortality by 2018 and having 95 per cent of all indigenous four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025. But in the NT, only Year 12 attainment is within reach.

Year 12 attainment in the NT increased from 18.3 per cent in 2006 to 39.1 per cent in 2016.

The Territory has the highest indigenous child mortality rate at 332 per 100,000, and the biggest gap. We also have the worst early childhood attendance rate and it’s worsening. The rate fell from 70.2 per cent in 2014 to 66.2 per cent in 2017.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner continued to lash out at Mr Turnbull for abandoning the Territory. Mr Gunner said the NT had been “done over” by Canberra last week when the Federal Government indicated it wouldn’t put up more cash to help fund the recommendations of the royal commission into youth justice.

“I think when they get in the Cabinet room in Canberra, we’re not even on the map,” he said.

Mr Gunner said the Federal Government’s refusal to pay could mean the Territory will have to push out its timelines to implement the commission’s recommendations.

Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT chief executive John Paterson said the Federal Government’s stance would put the Territory further behind on reaching the closing the gap targets.

“We really need the Commonwealth Government to make a huge financial investment to enable us to have any chance of closing the gap,” he said.

“The NT is the worst off – we have the shortest life expectancy, the highest incarceration rates in prisons.”

Mr Turnbull said closing the gap was an impossible goal without equal participation in the economy.

“One of the most effective ways to tackle disadvantage is ensuring that everyone is included in the economy and shares in its benefits,” Mr Turnbull said.

He announced a new indigenous grants policy to increase the number of local indigenous-owned and -controlled organisations.