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The gap of Indigenous disadvantage is being closed too slowly: report

Michelle Grattan writes in The Conversation (14.2.17) about this year’s release of the Closing the Gap report, which indicates that Australia is still falling short in meeting targets for overcoming Indigenous disadvantage.

‘Australia is falling short in its progress towards almost all its targets for overcoming Indigenous disadvantage, the 2017 Closing the Gap report released by Malcolm Turnbull shows.

‘“Successes are being achieved, however progress overall nationally is too slow,” the report says.

‘It presents a mixed picture. While there are some more encouraging longer term trends, the only target that is “on track” to be achieved is the improvement in Indigenous attainment of Year 12 education.

‘Speaking to the House of Representatives, Turnbull said there must be a rigorous evaluation of programs to determine what was working and what wasn’t.’

Indigenous incarceration: turning the tide on colonisation’s cruel third act

Calla Wahlquist reports in The Guardian (20.2.17) on the problem of overly high Indigenous incarceration rates, one of the persistent issues highlighted in the latest Closing the Gap report.

‘The grim statistics are read out in the Australian parliament every February.

‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 14 times more likely to be in custody than non-Indigenous people. A teenage boy who identifies as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander is more likely to go to jail than go to university and, because of the high incarceration rate, is more likely to die in custody than any non-Indigenous person they pass on the street.

‘It’s colonisation’s cruel third act; both a product and cause of ongoing intergenerational disadvantage. And it starts in childhood.’

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