‘Honour Closing the Gap promises’: co-author Pat Turner

Co-author Pat Turner said all governments must begin to do what they told Scott Morrison they would do in 2020 when they agreed to be part of the rewritten Closing the Gap agreement.

Coalition of Peaks lead convenor and Closing the Gap co-author Pat Turner. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Renewed efforts to boost school attendance and tackle family violence in the Northern Territory are the direct result of governments working with Indigenous communities as they promised they would when they signed the Closing the Gap agreement five years ago, according to co-author Pat Turner.

New data measuring the successes and failures of the Closing the Gap showed this week that Indigenous incarceration and suicide rates, and the rates of Indigenous children in state care, continued to climb.

Ms Turner, who is from Alice Springs, said all governments must begin to do what they told Scott Morrison they would do in 2020 when they agreed to be part of the rewritten Closing the Gap agreement.

This included sharing decisions with Indigenous health services and other community organisations with detailed local knowledge. This was a shift in the way government operated, but the Productivity Commission found last year that in many areas governments and bureaucracies were simply paying lip service to the promise.

“In critical areas like incarceration, child protection and suicide prevention, we are seeing setbacks,” Ms Turner said.

“Governments must step up and fully implement the priority reforms of the Closing the Gap agreement. Too often, we see delay, half-measures and a failure to empower our communities with real decision-making power. If we are to achieve lasting change, the solutions must be led by us, not imposed upon us.

“Genuine partnership requires deep understanding – where different perspectives and ways of knowing come together to create solutions that are truly effective. The more united we are, the more we can navigate challenges with a shared vision.

“Collaboration and a genuine commitment to real partnerships aren’t just ideals – they are essential to Closing the Gap. This is a lifelong journey that requires mature leadership from all of us, particularly from governments.”

Ms Turner said change happened when governments worked with communities. In the NT, communities had helped implement new measures that were starting to make a difference: “These include programs such as School Attendance and Engagement Officers, the Circuit Breaker Program and our $36m annual investment in domestic, family and sexual violence prevention to improve the wellbeing and safety of all children, young people and families in the Northern Territory.”

The NT was the worst performer in the Closing the Gap agreement in the 2023-24 financial year, according to the most recent available data, published on Thursday. While all states were making improvements in a majority of the agreement’s 17 targets, the Territory was not.

In the NT in 2023-24, there were setbacks in areas such as life expectancy, birth weight and child development. Finocchiaro government Indigenous Affairs Minister Steve Edgington told The Australian he was committed to the Closing the Gap national agreement and the principles that underpin it.

The Finocchiaro government, elected in August, has begun talking to Indigenous organisations about ways to overhaul its child protection system. The Australian has been told the CLP government remains committed to the Indigenous child placement policy that favours Aboriginal families as foster carers for Aboriginal children.