Thursday, 17 March 2016 marked the 10th anniversary of the Close the Gap Campaign. The Independent Education Union of Australia through ‘IEU Speaks’ took the opportunity to highlight the poor progress in closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and urged IEU members to join the campaign to effectively address these shameful inequities.
In 2006, Australia’s peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander bodies and non Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health bodies, non government organisations and human rights organisations initiated the Close the Gap Campaign to achieve equality for health and life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by 2030.
The campaign was deemed necessary as Australia has one of the world’s worse life expectancy gaps between indigenous and non indigenous people.
As a response, the National Indigenous Reform Agreement was agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The agreement outlined two health/medical goals and four educational/employment goals to be achieved in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and health organisations. A further education target related to school attendance rates was added in May 2014.
These goals were to:
•Improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy to the Australian average by 2031
•Halve the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality rates
•Ensure that 95% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander four year olds are enrolled in early childhood education by 2025 (revised goal)
•Close the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school attendance by 2018
•Halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students by 2018
•Halve the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Year 12 (or equivalent) attainment rates by 2020, and
•Halve the gap in employment outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians by 2018.
Ten years on: Not on track
The Closing the Gap Report released in February 2016 shows little progress has been achieved over the past 12 months and in fact since the National Indigenous Reform Agreement was established in 2008.
It is imperative that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, education and employment become a priority in the 2016 federal election year.
The NSW ACT branch of the IEU recently established an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Working Party to consult with our members about their professional and industrial needs as well as the work of non government schools and early childhood centres in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. Despite the critical importance of this area of education, many members continue to face issues such as limited hours of engagement, insecurity of tenure and unrealistic expectations of their roles. We call on non government employers to make this essential work a funding priority rather than depend solely on government programs.
The IEU is also calling upon each political party prior to the 2016 federal election to commit to prioritising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, education and wellbeing in their election policy platforms and fund the Implementation Plan for National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan (2013-2023) until it expires in 2023.
IEU members can contact the Prime Minister’s Office at: https://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm and locate their local MP at: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/find-your-local-mp.htm
To read more about the Closing the Gap Report 2016, click on this link http://www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander -affairs/publication/closing-gap-prime-ministers-report-2016