The Intervention and the Closing the Gap Campaign

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) had identified six areas of Indigenous disadvantage to target as the basis for the Closing the Gap Campaign. These were:

  1. Early childhood;
  2. Schooling;
  3. Health;
  4. Economic Participation;
  5. Safe Communities; and
  6. Governance and Leadership (see Right to Self Determination below).

The Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory National Partnership Agreement (2009) ceased on 30 June 2012. The Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory package which started on 1 July 2012 continued to support the Closing the Gap reforms.

The 6th Annual Progress Report on Closing the Gap was tabled in Parliament by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 12 February 2014. It outlined the commitments made by the Coalition government, including:

  • Consolidating the administration of Indigenous programs from eight government departments into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
  • Establishing the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council.
  • Increasing indigenous school  attendance through  providing $28.4 million funding for a remote school attendance program.
  • Improving indigenous access to employment by commissioning a review and funding employment initiatives.
  • Supporting a referendum for the recognition of the First Australians in the Australian Constitution.

However, in the 10th annual progress report of 22 February 2018, then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged that although there is ‘much to celebrate’, ‘continued effort and action is required’ . Mr Turnbull applauded the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are, on average, living longer. He also celebrated the improvements in early childhood education enrolment, and improved Year 12 Attainment rates. However, the report concluded that only 1 out of 7 targets are on track to be met at a national level, and within the Northern Territory only the target to halve the gap in Year 12 attainment remained on track.

Thus, four of the Closing the Gap targets expired in 2018 (see CTG, Prime Minister’s report, 2018, p. 12).  These were closing the gap in school attendance by 2018 (not achieved); halve the gap in reading and numeracy by 2018 (not achieved); halving the gap in employment by 2018 (not achieved); halving the gap in Year 12 attainment by 2018 (achieved).

Ten years on from the initial Framework, the Government recognised  ‘a need to ‘recommit and renew our collective efforts’.

In 2019, the final Closing the Gap report stated that ‘we should not let our failure to meet targets overshadow the successful, thriving lives of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the great work that many in our communities have been doing’.  It notes that the targets were ‘ambitious, complex and aimed at long-term, intergenerational change, without all the levers to make it happen’ (CTG 2019, p.12).  

The report claimed to mark a transition to ‘doing things differently’, primarily by working in partnership with Aboriginal people. There is nothing new about governments claiming to be working in partnership with Aboriginal people; the test will be whether they are actually doing so.

A Closing the Gap refresh process is currently underway.

Closing the Gap Refresh

On the 12th of December 2018, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to a formal partnership with key Indigenous Australian organisations to provide a forum for consultation with respect to the Closing the Gap Refresh. COAG also released a draft framework which sets out 15 targets, accountabilities and reporting requirements that would form the basis for the next phase of the Closing the Gap strategy. The partnership was formalised and came into effect in March 2019. The agreement establishes the Ministerial Council, known as the Joint Council on Closing the Gap which includes representatives of COAG and twelve representatives from Coalition of Peaks. The Government announced that the Joint Council will be responsible for finalising the refreshed Closing Gap framework and targets, play an 'ongoing role' in the implementation and performance monitoring the jointly agreed framework and targets, and review the National Indigenous Reform Agreement by the end of 2019.

The draft targets are as follows:

Families, children and youth

  • Increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children assessed as developmentally on track in all five domains of the Australian Early Development Census to 45% by 2028.
  • 95% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025.
  • Significant and sustained progress to eliminate the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.
  • A significant and sustained reduction in violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.

Health

  • Close the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation by 2031.
  • By 2028, 90-92% of babies born to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers have a healthy birth weight.

Education

  • Increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the top two bands of NAPLAN reading and numeracy for years 3, 5, 7 and 9 by an average of 6 percentage points by 2028.
  • Decrease the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the bottom two bands of NAPLAN reading and numeracy for years 3, 5, 7 and 9 by an average of 6 percentage points by 2028.
  • Halve the gap in attainment of Year 12 or equivalent qualifications between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non Indigenous 20-24 year-olds by 2020.
  • 47% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (aged 20-64 years) have completed Certificate III or above, including higher education, by 2028.

Economic development

  • 65% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth (15-24 years) are in employment, education or training by 2028.
  • 60% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-64 years are employed by 2028.

Housing

  • Increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population living in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing to 82% by 2028.

The COAG draft targets are notable for their modesty, particularly compared with the original Closing the Gap targets of 2008. The new Closing the Gap Refresh framework claims a change in emphasis, away from the failure to meet (presumably unachievable) targets, and towards emphasis on areas where progress is being made.  This is encapsulated in the 2019 Closing the Gap report, which describes Closing the Gap Refresh as a ‘draft strengths-based framework, which prioritises intergenerational change and the aspirations and priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ (CTG 2019, p.14).