The sustained effort over the past 10 years to close the gap in the areas of health, education and employment has delivered better outcomes. For instance, Indigenous child mortality rates have fallen significantly over the longer term — down 35 per cent between and And smoking rates fell 9 percentage points between and and, as reported last year, drinking during pregnancy halved between and The target to halve the gap for Indigenous Australians aged in Year 12 attainment or equivalent attainment by is on track to be met — and there has been a surge in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students going on to higher education.
The Australian Government is implementing a range of measures to encourage Indigenous students to complete their university studies — because of the wider range of opportunities it provides to participate in the economy and contribute to community life. Indigenous businesses are thriving — and the Government is supporting them to be even more successful through measures such as the Indigenous Procurement Policy and the Indigenous Business Sector Strategy.
The Australian Government is committed to continuing to build the evidence base to show what works and what does not. This is critical to ensuring investment is focused in areas that make the biggest difference. Research undertaken over the past 10 years has shown us that keys to successful outcomes include:.
With four of the existing Closing the Gap targets expiring in , the Australian Government is working with the states and territories and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to refresh the Closing the Gap agenda. In December , the Council of Australian Governments COAG committed to working together, and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to refresh the agenda with a renewed focus on collaborative effort, evaluation and building on what works in each jurisdiction.
There is a shared view among governments, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the wider community that we need to do better. But more than this, there is a view we need to move beyond addressing inequalities in education, employment and health and ask what needs to be done to create a thriving and prosperous environment in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can choose to pursue the lives they value for themselves, their families and their communities.
Work has been undertaken to improve the data collections that inform the targets, such as the Census, deaths registrations, and the perinatal data collection.
The need to continuously improve the quality of the data is important for strengthening the evidence base. However, this also impacts upon the measurement of outcomes and poses challenges for interpreting trends in the targets. These issues are touched on in the report and in the Technical Appendix. Trend results in this report are statistically significant, unless indicated otherwise.
See the Technical Appendix for more information. Progress against the targets for each state and territory varies, and is summarised in Table 1. This table serves as a guide to progress, but should not be used in isolation as there are limitations for each target trajectory, and for the data sources used to measure outcomes.
More detailed analysis of progress in each of the target areas is found in the chapters of this report. A dash indicates the data are either not published or there is no agreed trajectory. The other targets are not on track or have not been met.
For more information on the target trajectories see the Technical Appendix. The national target reflects results for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory combined, which are the jurisdictions considered to have adequate levels of Indigenous identification in the deaths data suitable to publish.
Due to the small number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, it is not possible to construct separate reliable life tables for these jurisdictions. However, as indicated in the table, only three jurisdictions have agreed life expectancy trajectories to support this target. Skip to main content.
Closing The Gap Report You are here Home » Closing the Gap Overview Closing the Gap began in response to a call for governments to commit to achieving equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in health and life expectancy within a generation. Annual report on progress in Closing the Gap In , Commonwealth, state, territory and local governments made a commitment to work together to close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage.
Working in Partnership and a new framework for Closing the Gap To rise to this challenge, the Closing the Gap framework is moving toward a strengths-based agenda—one that partners with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, enables more community control and embeds shared decision-making.
Stories of local action to create change There are many examples that demonstrate what can be achieved at a local level when governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Closing the gap was expected to take a generation—the effort must continue. Progress against the Targets Progress against the Closing the Gap targets has been mixed over the past decade. The target to halve the gap in child mortality rates by 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 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 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 Two of the continuing targets are on track. The target to halve the gap for Indigenous Australians aged 20 — 24 in Year 12 attainment or equivalent by Progress across states and territories Progress against the targets for each state and territory varies, and is summarised in Table 1.
To accelerate improvements in life outcomes, programs and services need to be designed, developed and implemented in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have called for a community-led, strengths-based approach, one that values their experience. This historic Partnership places Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as shared decision-makers at the table. Through the Partnership, the new National Agreement on Closing the Gap is being developed to set out priorities for the next ten years and outline targets and measures that will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to forge their own pathways and reach their goals.
Support for families will ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are safe, resilient and thriving. We also pay our respects to Elders past and present, with particular acknowledgement to the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, the traditional owners of the lands where our offices are located.
Menu Topic Menu Closing the Gap home page. History of Closing the Gap Leadership and legacy through crises: keeping our Mob safe Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee In August , the Coalition of Peaks implementation plan and the Commonwealth implementation plan were released. These plans detailed how the Coalition of Peaks and the Commonwealth Government, respectively, would meet their responsibilities under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
In July , the first Annual data compilation report to inform reporting on progress under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap was released. The report provided baseline data for all of the socioeconomic targets, and more recent data for seven targets where such data were available.
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