Article courtesy of The Australian.
Far from closing the gap in key outcomes for Indigenous Australians, the situation is going backwards and governments are to blame. This is the stark message from the latest Productivity Commission report, which makes the same points that have long been obvious to anyone with a serious interest in the issue.
More bureaucrats are the problem, not the solution. Since a new Closing the Gap agreement was signed in 2020, the rate of imprisonment for all Indigenous age groups, including children, has risen. So has the suicide rate and the rate at which Indigenous children are removed from their families. It is a shared failure by all levels of government that have not been able to find ways to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage that dooms another generation.
Comments by report co-author and Productivity Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown are particularly instructive. She says bureaucrats are prioritising the “churning of documents” over working with Aboriginal people on the ground.
A lack of trust is compounded by a lack of participation by many who live on remote communities and remain disempowered by legions of external consultants and service providers.
New Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has an opportunity to make a fresh start. Like her opposition counterpart, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Senator McCarthy has a deep understanding of the problems that beset many Indigenous communities. Both may have different views about what should be done but they must be prepared to work co-operatively. Common ground must be found in areas such as opening up remote Aboriginal communities to individual home ownership and the need for economic opportunity and the creation of real jobs.
Meaningful engagement must involve building skills to promote greater selfreliance.
The Indigenous rights agenda must embrace the transformative power of the corresponding measure, responsibility. The latest Productivity Commission report has again exposed how government does not have the answers. This is something that must be part of discussions at the Garma Festival being held in the Northern Territory, starting on Friday. Anthony Albanese will attend. The focus must move past the failure of the voice to parliament referendum and look to practical measures.
For government, a big imperative should be that a thorough investigation is held into why so much money can be spent on so many bureaucrats in the Indigenous affairs area for so little return. Everyone is entitled to feel disappointed and outraged by the status quo that has again been exposed as deficient in the latest report.
