Response to the 12th Annual Closing The Gap Report: "We die silently under these statistics"

The Monthly, 12 February 2020:

Northern Territory Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy gave a devastating interview this morning, ahead of today’s annual Closing the Gap address, drawing a direct connection between the ongoing failure to meet targets to reduce Indigenous disadvantage and the policies of the Coalition government. 

Starting with the Abbott government’s decision to cut the Aboriginal affairs budget by half a billion dollars, McCarthy then cited the disastrous Aboriginal work-for-the-dole scheme (the Community Development Program), the cashless welfare card that “entrenches First Nations people in poverty in this country”, and the out-of-hand rejection by the Turnbull and Morrison governments of the First Nations voice to parliament requested in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. “All of these things are connected to Closing the Gap and improving the lives for First Nations people,” said McCarthy, who went on to slam as an “absolute disgrace” the abandonment of any referendum on constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians after a backlash [$] in the Coalition party room yesterday. 

The key findings of the 12th annual Closing the Gap report, tabled in parliament today, received blanket coverage this morning: only two out of seven targets have been met, on early education and Year 12 attainment, while the other five targets on child mortality, school attendance, literacy and numeracy, employment and life expectancy are all off track. The government has responded by seeking to adopt new targets expected in April, drawn up after a year’s consultation by the Coalition of Peaks representative body chaired by Pat Turner, from the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, under a new national agreement to be signed by COAG. Both PM Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese gave set-piece addresses, and the debate continued into Question Time, with no real progress. Fine words every Closing the Gap day achieve nothing – as Crikey’s Bernard Keane writes [$], the sentiments are often the same, from PM to PM, from year to year. 

In a debate this afternoon, shadow Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney gave a moving speech citing former social justice commissioner Mick Dodson, who said Australians suffered from an “industrial deafness” to the statistics of Indigenous disadvantage, accepting them as almost inevitable. “We die silently under these statistics,” Burney said, flagging that Labor looked forward to supporting new and ambitious Closing the Gap targets. Failure was not inevitable, she said, adding that “once again we offer bipartisanship from this side of the house”. In reply, Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt also stressed the need for bipartisanship, saying: “All of us have failed in the Closing the Gap journey over the last 10 years. The intent has been good … but the model has been broken.” Then he veered into unconvincing management speak: a different paradigm, turning the dial, joint and shared decision making, better ownership at local level, and the engagement of mainstream Australia. 

While nobody is doubting that Wyatt is genuine about his portfolio, it will amount to little if his government colleagues are not behind him. It will be a tragedy if it turns out the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians was appointed for cynical political purposes, and was nobbled from the start....

Read the full article here.

Closing The Gap Report 2020, exerpt:

Progress against the Closing the Gap targets has been mixed over the past decade. 

As four targets expire, we can see improvements in key areas, but also areas of concern that require more progress. 

• The target to halve the gap in child mortality rates by 2018 has seen progress in maternal and child health, although improvements in mortality rates have not been strong enough to meet the target. 

• The target to halve the gap for Indigenous children in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade (by 2018) has driven improvements in these foundational skills, but more progress is required. 

• There has not been improvement in school attendance rates to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school attendance within five years (by 2018). 

• The national Indigenous employment rate has remained stable against the target to halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade (by 2018). 

Two of the continuing targets are on track. 

• The target to have 95 per cent of Indigenous four year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025. 

• The target to halve the gap for Indigenous Australians aged 20–24 in Year 12 attainment or equivalent by 2020. 

However, the target to close the gap in life expectancy by 2031 is not on track. 

Jurisdictions agreed to measure progress towards the targets using a trajectory, or pathway, to the target end point. The trajectories indicate the level of change required to meet the target and illustrate whether the current trends are on track.

BACKGROUND

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics; The final estimated resident Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia as at 30 June 2016 was 798,400 people, or 3.3% of the total Australian population.

It has been estimated that the pre-1788 resident Aboriginal population could have been as high as over one million people, or 100% of the total Australian population.