At last, the PM gives Indigenous Australians a reason to hope

After 10 years of good intentions yielding disappointing outcomes, a new day has
dawned. I was heartened by the statement made by the Prime Minister yesterday on the
floor of Parliament. For the first time, I heard a genuine acknowledgement of why the Closing the Gap outcomes seem steeped in failure.

I heard an acknowledgement that until Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are brought to the table as equal partners, the gap will not be closed and progress will not be made. This is a view that our community has expressed for many years – a view I am encouraged has finally been
heard.

Historically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders have not been
equal decision-makers in steering attempts to close the unacceptable gaps between
indigenous Australians and the broader community. Our struggle as community-controlled organisations to even gain a voice at the table – let alone for governments to actually listen to us – has long been at the crux of the disappointing progress.

The lack of progress under Closing the Gap is the lived reality of our people on the
ground every day. They are being robbed of living their full potential. Sadly, attending the
funerals of people in our community – including increasingly young people taking their
own lives – is all too common.

We turned an important corner in December when an historic agreement was reached
to include a coalition of peak bodies as equal partners in refreshing the Closing the Gap
strategy.

We now need to ensure that the agreement blossoms into genuine action.
We are doing the heavy lifting and have drafted a formal partnership agreement for the
Commonwealth, state and territory governments to consider. It sets out how we can all
work together and have equal decision-making on closing the gap. We are determined
to fulfil the Council of Australian Governments' undertaking to agree formal partnership arrangements by the end of February.

A coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies from across the nation
has formed to be signatories to the partnership arrangements. We are now almost 40
service delivery, policy and advocacy organisations, with community-control at our
heart.

Our coalition brings a critical mass of independent Indigenous organisations with deep
connections to communities that will enhance the Closing the Gap efforts.
We must not lose sight of the most crucial point of Closing the Gap, which is to improve
the everyday lives of our people. We must ensure our people are no longer burdened
with higher rates of child mortality, poorer literacy and employment outcomes and
substantially lower life expectancies.