Senator Lidia Thorpe has said the Closing the Gap program “should be abolished” as it treats symptoms rather than dealing with the fundamental issues.
“If we’re not looking at the systemic racism that our people are dealing with, that also contributes to these high incarceration rates, then it’s just band-aids on,” she said.
New Closing the Gap data from the Productivity Commission has revealed progress is stalling, and in some areas, slipping backwards. Several of the socio-economic outcomes, including children in out-of-home care and suicide rates, show serious deterioration, while the scale of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is at its worst on record.
With only a handful of targets on track, there are growing warnings that time is running out to meet the 2031 deadline to eliminate socioeconomic inequity, with only three out of the 17 socio-economic outcome areas on track.
Read more: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/closing-the-gap/xua9phi82
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