Real job creation ‘a priority to close gap’

Anthony Albanese says creating a real jobs scheme out of the ­national work-for-the-dole program is among his government’s priorities in the wake of a bleak assessment of efforts to close the gap.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Anthony Albanese says creating a real jobs scheme out of the ­national work-for-the-dole program is among his government’s priorities in the wake of a bleak assessment of efforts to reduce disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The Productivity Commission’s review of the Closing the Gap national agreement signed in 2020 finds that despite signing up to shared decision-making with Indigenous communities, it has been business as usual for the past four years.

The report published on Tuesday tells the story behind the failures that have been known for years. Under the old national agreement that ran from 2009 to 2019, only two of the seven agreed targets – early childhood enrolment and year 12 attainment – were achieved.

Ambitions failed in targets for school attendance, child mortality, employment, life expectancy and literacy and numeracy targets. There are 17 targets in the refreshed agreement and only four are on track. Some, such as a commitment to reduce the number of Indigenous children in state care, are going backwards.

There were pockets of progress, including in Western Australia where the proportion of Indigenous children in care began to fall as a direct result of early interventions by Indigenous organisations. Those organisations work with troubled parents to encourage and guide them to change their behaviours, get help for addictions or escape domestic violence in order to keep custody of their children.

On Thursday, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney was to talk about what the Productivity Commission found in a meeting with the Coalition of Peaks’ acting convener Catherine Liddle, the Indigenous women leading more than 80 Indigenous service providers and organisations. That coalition helped write the Closing the Gap agreement and its members – many of them health and medical services – are among the organisations that governments are supposed to be sharing decisions with.

In parliament on Tuesday next week, Ms Burney is due to outline the government’s proposed path forward under the Closing the Gap.

She will also meet state and territory Indigenous affairs ministers in coming weeks.

It comes as the Yothu Yindi Foundation calls on the commonwealth to take more control over the way states and territories spend taxpayer money in Indigenous affairs. In some cases, the Arnhem Land organisation claims, money allocated to the NT on account of its disadvantaged Indigenous population is not spent on Indigenous programs or services.

The Prime Minister on Wednesday said all governments needed to do better: “We’re doing work, particularly at the moment across a range of issues.

“We’re talking about how do you build housing in remote Australia? How do you increase the use of justice reinvestment? How do you create employment through Indigenous Rangers Programs? How do you convert the CDP, what effectively is a work for the dole program, into real jobs with real skills, creating real opportunity for First Nations people? How do you improve health outcomes for Indigenous Australians?”.

On Wednesday, Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie questioned whether Ms Burney was fit to hold her portfolio, saying she has not seen the minister since the voice referendum failed.

However, Ms Burney had shoulder surgery after the voice referendum in October and was off work for about six weeks as a result.