States accused of parking Closing the Gap in the ‘too hard’ basket

Queensland has defied the Closing the Gap agreement by ­rejecting a key tenet of the deal – the establishment of an Indigenous affairs watchdog to report on state bureaucracies.

Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington speaks in state parliament earlier this month. Ms Frecklington has asserted the LNP government’s right to deliver tough law and order policies that it took to the state election last October. Picture: NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

Queensland has again defied the Closing the Gap agreement by ­rejecting a key tenet of the deal – the establishment of an Indigenous affairs watchdog to monitor and report on state bureaucracies.

The revolt against the decade-long national agreement to lift Indigenous Australians’ health and wellbeing has prompted the ­nation’s top ­Indigenous health research body, the Lowitja Institute, to question whether state governments and the NT regard Closing the Gap as simply “too hard”.

The Productivity Commission considers an Indigenous affairs watchdog in each state and territory as crucial to the success of the Closing the Gap agreement ­because, without an accountability mechanism of some kind, there are no consequences for failure to meet or make progress towards the 19 targets.

Australia is not on track to meet most targets when the agreement ends in 2031, ­according to latest data.

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Six weeks ago, Queensland led a pushback by states and the NT against the Closing the Gap agreement during a discussion with federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland that turned to soaring Indigenous incarceration rates.

At that meeting of attorneys-generals on August 15, Queensland bristled at bail law reforms proposed to ensure fewer Australians – including Indigenous Australians – go to jail without sentencing. Instead, Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington asserted the LNP government’s right to deliver tough law and order policies that it took to the state election last October.

The Attorneys-General then passed a motion that “any legislative change is a matter for individual jurisdictions”.

Asked if the Crisafulli government would create its own Indigenous affairs watchdog, as it is required to do in the Closing the Gap agreement signed by all states and territories in 2020, Queensland Indigenous Affairs Minister Fiona Simpson said her government’s priorities were “direct dialogue with local leadership” and addressing intergenerational disadvantage.

Ms Simpson says progress under the Closing the Gap targets stalled for a decade in Queensland as the previous Labor government “abandoned … rural Indigenous communities in need of critical support”.

The Australian has confirmed that establishing a watchdog is not on the Queensland government’s agenda.

Only the ACT has established an Indigenous affairs watchdog.

Victoria will soon have a watchdog if the Allan government’s treaty bill becomes law. Other states and the NT have told The Australian they are considering options or working towards the establishment of a watchdog.

The Victorian watchdog will have no power to compel witnesses but it will have a budget to conduct inquiries, audits and publish reports about Indigenous ­affairs programs run by state government agencies.

There is optimism the Victorian watchdog can highlight how little money marked for ­“Indigenous affairs” reaches the most disadvantaged communities. NT Public Service Minister Jo Hersey has said that 41 per cent of the Finocchiaro government’s spending is on public servant wages.

Lowitja Institute chief executive Paul Stewart said of the slow pace of change: “I wonder if governments are thinking, ‘It’s too hard. We don’t know what to do’.

“People like us are advocating for an accountability mechanism because they (governments and bureaucracies) don’t want to be held accountable.”

Queensland Indigenous Affairs Minister Fiona Simpson in parliament in August. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

Ms Simpson said the Crisafulli government was “taking a ­targeted and strategic approach to Closing the Gap”.

“Direct dialogue with our First Peoples, and their involvement in services and support, is vital,” she said. “During 10 years of decline under Labor, Closing The Gap progress stalled.

“This intergenerational disadvantage gap is being addressed during the Crisafulli government’s 10 months of delivery, and this will remain a priority – as will direct engagement with local leadership.”