Introduction by Croakey: The 24th annual Garma Festival begins today at Gulkula, northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, bringing opportunities for important conversations and sharing of knowledge, culture and connections.
It is a timely gathering, weeks out from an election in the NT, with a federal election on the horizon, and following a Ministerial reshuffle. It comes as the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council is also putting forward election priorities for their state election.
It is being billed as the first major political forum focused on Indigenous affairs since the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
ABC reports: “A year on from the referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, this year’s theme looks ahead. ‘Gurtha-Wuma Worrk-gu’ is a Yolŋu phrase signifying fire, strength and renewal.”
Meanwhile, the Productivity Commission’s latest annual assessment of progress on Closing the Gap was released this week, finding that some targets are on track to be achieved, such as healthy birthweight and pre-school enrolment.
However, outcomes are worsening in four areas: children removed into out-of-home care by child protection systems, the proportion of children who are developmentally on track, the rate of people taking their own lives and the number of adults imprisoned.
The report highlights the urgency for addressing the public health crisis of incarceration.
Nationally, the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults being incarcerated is increasing. As of 30 June 2023, the age-standardised rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners was 2,265.8 per 100,000 adult population. This is an increase from the previous year (2,151.1 per 100,000 adult population) as well as the baseline year (2,142.9 per 100,000 adult population in 2019).
In their foreword to the report, Commissioners Natalie Siegel-Brown and Selwyn Button have a caution for readers – beware the ‘tyranny of the aggregate’.
“Progress toward the targets under the Agreement is reported at a national level, which obscures the different experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in different regions and within specific communities,” they say.
“Data gaps also mean that the picture of progress is incomplete. For example, we are still waiting on the development of indicators against the four Priority Reform areas, which are the key levers to the success of the outcomes under the Agreement.
“We know work is progressing on these matters and we hope a more complete picture can be presented to you in the future. The data in this report should impel governments to act.”
The statements below, by the Coalition of Peaks and the National Health Leadership Forum, stress the importance of the community controlled sector, and the need for governments and bureaucracies to work differently.
Community control always was and always will be the key to Closing the Gap
Statement by The Coalition of Peaks
New data from the Productivity Commission shows that while many Closing the Gap targets are not being met, the ones that are succeeding are those where community control is in place.
The effectiveness of community control has long been highlighted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations, and the impact of this approach is accepted wisdom throughout Indigenous nations around the world.
Yet it was as far back as 2020 when Priority Reforms were identified to ensure better outcomes for our people, and the Coalition of Peaks is still having to advocate for these reforms to be fully actioned. These reforms are:
- To ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives are at the table with governments and share in the decisions that impact on our communities’ lives.
- To adequately fund our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations to deliver the services our people need.
- To transform government institutions and other mainstream services so they are safe for our people, free from racism, and truly meeting our needs.
- Ensuring our people have access to, and the capability to use, data and information to monitor progress, set priorities and drive our own development.
“The data is there, the stories are there, it’s clear that when we control our services we get better outcomes for our people,” Coalition of Peaks co-convenor Catherine Liddle said.
“The saying ‘nothing about us without us’ absolutely applies to getting the best results for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, from birth right through to our Elders and how they are cared for.
“There are still far too many non-Indigenous operated service providers being funded to deliver to our people, and they are doing so without consideration for what we really need, without the knowledge of how interconnected so many aspects of our lives and culture are, and without the understanding of how our communities and people think and feel.”
Ms Liddle said there were numerous examples of where community control was Closing the Gap.
“When systemic issues are dealt with we have success and great outcomes for our people,” she said.
“There are some fantastic community-controlled childcare and kindergarten programs, for example, that are ensuring our children are growing up not just healthy and educated, but strong in culture too. We know that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are connected to their culture the Closing the Gap measures are better met.
“Yet at this moment in time, the biggest investments into early education and care in Australia are not in the Aboriginal community-controlled sector, they’re actually in the mainstream.
“That is a failure by governments to invest in the right set of criteria into the right type of service delivery, and to move at the speed that it needs to move at.”
Ms Liddle noted a positive was that for the first time the Productivity Commission had included analysis of the historical and ongoing context to the data for eight socioeconomic outcome areas.
“This is something we advocated for,” she said. “It’s so important because it helps us move away from a deficit narrative focused on just data without any understanding of the context as to the why and the how behind these numbers. Without that context and understanding real change cannot happen.”
About the Coalition of Peaks
The Coalition of Peaks is a representative body of over eighty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak organisations and certain independent statutory authorities responsible for Closing the Gap policies, programs and services. The Coalition of Peaks came together on their own as an act of self-determination to be formal partners with Australian governments on Closing the Gap.
To Close the Gap, governments and their bureaucracy must change the way they do business
Statement by National Health Leadership Forum
The update by the Productivity Commission on key closing the gap targets shows a worrying trend. The data says that the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians imprisoned, taking their own life and losing children to out-of-home care have all increased in the first Closing the Gap report since the Voice referendum was defeated.
The National Health Leadership Forum endorsed all of the recommendations in the Productivity Commission’s final report on its Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (released January 2024). This Report highlighted the ongoing failure of governments and their bureaucracy to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
“The vision and outcomes sought within health and the other social determinants under the proposed National Agreement to Closing the Gap is possible. The continuation of a ‘do as I say’ approach, and not accepting that current business practices by government and their public services needs to change is hurting us,” said Karl Briscoe, Chair of the NHLF.
“The Productivity Commission Report and the recent data demonstrates the public sectors’ inability to think and act differently.”
Partnership and shared decision-making arrangements were central to the development of the National Agreement and are intrinsic to the outcomes being sought under each Priority Reform Area. The failures and the continuing health gaps are largely due to government decision-makers not accepting that they do not know what is best for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“It is time for all Governments to step back and let Aboriginal peoples to decide how to solve the problems and to deliver the solutions and for governments to support us in this work” said Karl Briscoe, Chair of the NHLF and CEO of NAATSIHWP.
The 2021-2031 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan is about a new way of doing business by governments. The Health Plan is a key milestone in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy focus with its focus on culture, and the relationship between culture and good health and well-being.
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap goes further and highlights a new way of doing business across all areas of government and to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and our ways of doing business.
“The Productivity Commission’s Report validates strengths-based approaches and by accepting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities and organisations as part of the process we can finally start to close the gap in health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”, Mr Briscoe said.
The NHLF calls for governments agencies to respect self-determination, culture, and to partner with Indigenous-led organisations to improve life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The way to change the data is to change the way we do policy in practice to ensure the National Agreement on Closing the Gap can be achieved.
NHLF Chair: Karl Briscoe – Chief Executive Officer – NAATSIHWP
The NHLF purpose is to drive systemic and structural transformation of mainstream government systems. Our membership encompasses expertise across policy, service delivery, workforce, research, healing, mental health, aged care and disability, and cultural, social and emotional wellbeing.
Key facts:
The focus on targets and outcomes detracts from what actually needs to be done and the services required.
What policymakers and communities really need to know is whether there is adequate and appropriate access to dedicated services run by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
There is clear evidence that tailored, and community-led services or solutions provides better outcomes.
The community-led Close the Gap Campaign annual reports showcase successful self-determination and community-led services, programs and initiatives that improve life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
More from social media
Further reading
The Conversation: New Closing the Gap data shows more First Nations Australians are in prison. Why?
The Conversation: Indigenous suicide and incarceration are increasing, according to latest Closing the Gap report
The Conversation: More Indigenous children are going to preschool, but is this enough?
