Reconciliation Australia says PM’S report card establishes a framework to close the gap
The Co-Chairs of Reconciliation Australia, Mick Dodson and Mark Leibler, have said thatthe Government’s first annual Closing the Gap report sets out a potential, longterm framework of investment and accountability that draws on known ingredients for success.
Evidence from around the world, and increasingly in the Australian context, shows thatimproved results for Indigenous people depends on mutually respectful relationships, long term investment, and solutions which are tailored to theneeds and aspirations of individual communities.
Professor Dodson noted the reference in the Closing the Gap Report to the AustralianReconciliation Barometer, conducted by Auspoll for Reconciliation Australia andreleased earlier this month. He said the Barometer contained valuable lessonsfor the effective delivery of the Government’s closing the gap agenda,including:
- support for government efforts to close the life expectancy gap, with 92% of Australians saying it should be a government priority
- the need for the kind of annual accountability framework reflected in the Closing the Gap report, with only 35% of Australians believing that programs to address Indigenous disadvantage have been successful.
TheBarometer also provides important insights for the Prime Minister in terms ofhis commitment to ‘resetting the relationship’ between Indigenous and otherAustralians. It highlights low levels of trust and a failure to recognisepositive qualities in each other that we value in ourselves.
“Resetting the relationship is going to require a great deal more than supporting theestablishment of a representative body for Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Australians,” said Professor Dodson. “It will involve a genuine development approach to every aspect of closing the gap.
“At last it appears we are committed to following the evidence, and all of theevidence already shows that imposed solutions don’t work because the people whose lives are affected don’t own them.
“Inhis speech, the Prime Minister referred to the organisations that have beenrecognised through the Indigenous Governance Awards. These organisations show that Indigenous Australians are willing and more than capable to take upchallenges and lead solutions.”
MrLeibler said that since Reconciliation Australia introduced the ‘closing thegap’ theme in 2006, it has been used to engage organisations Australia-wide in the national effort to close the gap through the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) program.
“The Prime Minister rightly says that closing the gap is a responsibility for all Australians,” said Mr Leibler. “The RAP program has 135 organisations on boardwith hundreds more in the process of developing plans.” Mr Leibler said RAPswere an important way to address the finding in the Australian Reconciliation Barometer that most non-Indigenous people don’t know what they can do to help close the gap.
For more information on the Australian Reconciliation Barometer, the ReconciliationAction Plan program and the Indigenous Governance Awards go to reconciliation.org.au
To download the PDF of this release click here
Media contact: Claire Tedeschi, Reconciliation Australia 02 62739200 or 0418 633 277.
