General News
17 February, 2025
We need unity if we are to close the gap
Aboriginals have one of the highest incarceration rates on earth.
This year's Closing the Gap report, like those before it, documents the chasm separating health, justice, educational, employment and material outcomes for Indigenous Australians from the general population.
Ensuring First Nations people achieve the same outcomes as the rest of the community is one of the great moral challenges facing this country. It is, sadly, even more difficult to achieve than was originally anticipated.
While there has been a noticeable improvement in some areas, including the proportion of babies born at a healthy birthweight and children in early childhood education, other gaps are getting wider.
Of particular concern is the high rate of suicides in Indigenous communities. According to the most recent data (from 2022) suicide was the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged between 15 and 39. The rate of suicides was 29.9 per 100,000 Indigenous people compared to 12.3 per 100,000 people in the broader community.
This is an appalling statistic that must be turned around. Indigenous people are taking their own lives at a greater rate than when the first Closing the Gap report was released.
Although the improvement in overall Indigenous life expectancy to 71.9 years for men and 75.6 years for women is welcome it is not on target. That said, it is still impressive given a quarter of a century ago life expectancy for Indigenous men was just 59 years. Life expectancy for Indigenous women was 75.6 years.
One area where much more obviously needs to be done is in the interaction between Indigenous Australians, particularly in the regions and remote settlements, and the social welfare and justice systems.
While it is now 17 years since Kevin Rudd delivered the historic national apology to the stolen generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are being separated from their families in greater numbers than ever before.
According to the most recent figures, 57.2 out of every 1000 Indigenous children are in out-of-home care. That figure, like the Indigenous suicide rate, is getting worse year-on-year.
That is also true of incarceration rates. In 2023 Indigenous Australians were being jailed at 15.2 times the rate for the broader community. There are 2267 prisoners per 100,000 Indigenous people; one of the highest rates of incarceration on earth.
There seems to be a strong correlation between these figures and domestic violence with almost one in 10 females either experiencing or being threatened with physical harm in the last year for which figures are available.
The main positive to emerge from the release of the Closing the Gap report on Monday was the belated recognition by the Coalition that this is a crisis that can only be resolved through a bipartisan approach.
One reason these problems have persisted for so long is that every time there has been a change of government there have been ideologically driven changes to the policies and programs that have been put in place.
"We have to make sure that as a national Parliament, we can work together in a bipartisan way to achieve better outcomes in these regards," Peter Dutton said.
"It is something that should happen today as we commemorate the National Apology anniversary.
"Let's bring to bear that "new beginning" which Prime Minister Rudd spoke about so optimistically 17 years ago."
It remains to be seen if the Coalition leader, who led the opposition to the Voice and wants to ban the Aboriginal flag at official events, will walk the walk as well as talk the talk.