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Little achieved in raising Indigenous equality: report
Thursday, 2 July 2009
12:46:47 PM
NATIONAL, July 2, 2009: A new report shows how little has been achieved in closing the disadvantage gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and how much work is ahead, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
Mr Rudd described as "devastating" the fourth Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report, released today.
"It is unacceptable and it requires decisive action," he told reporters on the way into a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Darwin.
The report, prepared for COAG, tracks how governments are proceeding in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The commonwealth, state and territory governments faced a massive challenge to make practical advances, Mr Rudd said.
Despite all past efforts, there had been no effective progress on basic things, such as literacy and numeracy standards.
"(It) means we have to redouble and treble our efforts to make an impact."
The report on Indigenous disadvantage illustrated how fundamentally great the challenge was.
"We must turn the corner," Mr Rudd said.
The report compares rates of post-secondary education, disability and chronic disease, income, child abuse, violence and imprisonment.
Gary Banks, who chairs the committee responsible for producing the report, says the latest edition contains mixed results.
"Indigenous people continued to share in Australia's general prosperity with increases in employment, incomes and home ownership," he said.
"However, a number of key social indicators have shown little improvement, with a deterioration occurring in areas such as criminal justice."
Mr Banks said the data available for some indicators was poor, hindering the committee's ability to paint a complete picture of Indigenous disadvantage.
Improved methodologies suggested Indigenous life expectancies were higher than previous estimates.
"But it is still not possible to say whether the gaps with non-Indigenous people have actually narrowed," Mr Banks said.
Meanwhile, NT Chief Minister Paul Henderson side-stepped a question about whether the report indicated the emergency response into Indigenous communities wasn't working.
"This meeting today is historic. It's going to be focused on closing the gap in indigenous disadvantage and the territory government working in partnership with the federal government and all the premiers around Australia," he said ahead of the COAG meeting.
"We are determined to close that gap (which) is evidenced by the Productivity Commission report.
"This is a historic day." - AAP
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