The Australian Government’s failure to meet its Closing the Gap targets continues to make national news, with the government’s Productivity Commission’s latest report showing that only one of the targets has been met, and progress towards many of the other targets is either stagnant or deteriorating.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss is “appalled, though sadly not surprised” at the state of the Closing the Gap Agreement, which was established in 2020 with targets set for 2031. According to Commissioner Kiss, “governments are responsible for these failures.”

Only four of the 19 targets are either being met or on track to be met; the only target that has been met is having 95% of First Nations children enrolled in preschool. There are four that are actively worsening, which include suicide and children in out of home care. Commissioner Kiss told media that Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are “doing their share of the work” but that entrenched disadvantage is not being addressed by governments across the country.

With the latest report demonstrating the continued failure to make progress on these targets, policy experts and advocates including Senator Lidia Thorpe have raised the question of whether Closing the Gap targets should be abolished altogether. Given the proximity of the report’s release to the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land, the “stalled” progress of many targets has been prominent in the media.

During Garma, Coalition of Peaks Lead Convenor Donnella Mills released a statement, saying “when respected Aboriginal leaders express concern about the trajectory of Closing the Gap, those concerns should not be dismissed. They should be examined carefully.” She added, “the question is whether governments are prepared to deliver the commitments they have already made under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap."

Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy spoke to NITV at Garma, indicating that the federal government was planning to place more pressure on states and territories that are failing to meet their Closing the Gap targets.

Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek also suggested this, saying that although the Commonwealth was not intending to pass legislation to overrule the territories, she was “looking for opportunities to put pressure on them to do the right thing.”

“Australians would see these failures as unacceptable, despite what governments are trying to tell us. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still being removed from their families, funnelled into detention and denied the opportunities they deserve, while adult imprisonment rates continue to climb, and health outcomes diminish. When governments ignore both the evidence and the voices of communities, the Australian people should demand better,” said Commissioner Kiss.

Image source: Australian Human Rights Commission