The Productivity Commission says governments are shirking “meaningful action” to close the gap, as new data reveals soaring rates of Indigenous imprisonment and ongoing failures to reduce rates of suicides and children in out-of-home care. Source: ABC News.
Productivity Commissioner and Gungarri man Selwyn Button called the continuation of business-as-usual by governments “the definition of insanity”.
The commission’s latest data shows a 15 per cent spike in imprisonment rates of Indigenous adults in just one year, between 2022 and 2023.
Rates of suicide, child removals and early childhood development are still worsening for First Nations people since the baseline year of 2018/19.
Arrernte and Luritja woman Catherine Liddle said these statistics aren’t just about numbers, but about real people’s lives.
“When we’re looking at where those statistics are really failing, it is failing our children,” she said.
“We know that if families do not have the supports around them to genuinely engage, then that child will suffer.”
Overall, only four of the 19 targets are on track to be met nationally by their deadline: early childhood education, employment, land rights and sea rights.
That’s a drop from last year when five targets were on track, with the target to increase the rate of babies born at a healthy weight no longer looking likely to be met.
Ms Liddle is the deputy convenor for the Coalition of Peaks, which represents more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak bodies.
She said all levels of government must deliver on their commitments under the 2020 National Agreement.
Federal, state, territory and local governments, along with the Coalition of Peaks, are jointly accountable for the outcomes under the National Agreements.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy told the ABC the Commonwealth Government remains committed to improving the lives of First Nations people but acknowledged there is “more to do”.
“The National Agreement on Closing the Gap, signed by all Australian Governments in 2020, remains the critical framework for delivering improved outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in partnership with states and territories, local government and First Nations Peak organisations,” Senator McCarthy said.
FULL STORY
Productivity Commission calls for accountability with only four Closing the Gap targets on track (By Brooke Fryer, Kirstie Wellauer and Stephanie Boltje, ABC News)
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