Indigenous ready to take initiatives to close the gap

Warren Mundine is correct when he argues that economic fundamentals — jobs, creating the right environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurship, education and training — need to be the backbone of indigenous policy. In an essay published by the Centre for Independent Studies­ on Wednesday, Mr Mundine, the former head of the Abbott government’s indigenous advisory council and a former Labor Party president, points out that poverty is “the reason for the gap in so many areas of health and life expectancy”. Regional economic ­development, welfare reform, targeted action to move people from welfare to economic participation and the use of local workforces for local jobs should be part of closing the gap.

Indigenous enterprise, as Mr Mundine says, must be encouraged. And current circumstances present several opportunities. In far north Queensland, jobs for fruit pickers are going begging on the Atherton Tablelands and around Innisfail in the absence of overseas workers due to the COVID-19 crisis. The jobs are not being filled by workers from indigenous communities for want of a bus to transport them. And while it would be more complicated, the scandalous prices being charged for groceries in the Torres Strait Islands, up to five times as much as supermarket prices, should open the way for fresh competitors.

Mr Mundine’s priorities broadly accord with the goals of Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt’s rewrite of Closing the Gap targets. That vital process, central to practical reconciliation, was introduced by the Rudd government in 2008 to reduce disadvantage among indigenous people and measure the improvement. After 12 annual reports, just two of the seven Closing the Gap targets have been achieved — early childhood education and Year 12 attainment. The process is ripe for an overhaul. But those achievements are a base for two of the new Closing the Gap goals. These are: increasing the proportion of Aborigines aged 25 to 34 who have completed a tertiary qualification (Certificate III or above); and increasing the proportion of young Aborigines (aged 15 to 24) who are in jobs, education or training. For some communities, these are highly ambitious goals. But as Mr Mundine bluntly warned: “If indigenous children don’t go to school, then into the workforce, they’re much more likely to end up in jail.” A child does not receive an effective education, as he said, if their school attendance falls below 90 per cent. In 2015 only 49 per cent of indigenous students met the critical 90 per cent attendance threshold. And in very remote areas, the figure was 21.9 per cent. Without major change, which must be motivated by families and communities, outcomes will not improve, regardless of resourcing. Detailed data and accountability will be essential to monitor progress.

The major change in the Closing the Gap process envisaged by Mr Wyatt is the plan to hand indigenous bodies unprecedented responsibility, power and funding to improve health and education outcomes. The failures and limitations of earlier top-down approaches and encouraging developments on the ground suggest this is the way forward. Indigenous leader Pat Turner, who has worked with Mr Wyatt to overhaul the Closing the Gap process, represents 143 community-controlled indigenous health groups as chief executive of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation. The sector, she says, is in touch with grassroots people all over the country. Equal decision-making between governments and Aboriginal people at local, regional, state and national level, Ms Turner said, would achieve more than programs provided by “those sitting in ivory towers”. West Australian epidemiologist Fiona Stanley agrees. She points to the success of indigenous communities in limiting the COVID-19 outbreak as an example of what local groups can achieve: “If you give Aboriginal people control and support them” in true partnerships where they lead, “you get effective outcomes”. Ear, nose and throat surgeons working with speech pathologists, teachers and others to improve the health of indigenous children through the Deadly Ears project have found the same. Following the advice of community elders has resulted in the program being taken seriously, to the benefit of children’s ability to hear their teachers at school.

Concurrent with the reforms to Closing the Gap, campaigners for a constitutionally enshrined indigenous voice to government also are stepping up their efforts. While also vitally important, that is a separate debate. But the overall picture shows indigenous people increasingly are ready, willing and able to take responsibility for their own lives. Doing so, Mr Mundine says, must include economic engagement, because he is unaware of “any race, community or group of people who have pulled themselves out of poverty without an economy”.