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Policy aimed at reducing Indigenous disadvantage in Australia "not working": expert

Xinhua, February 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australia's long-standing program aimed at reducing the gap between the well-being and life expectancy of Indigenous Australians compared with other Australians is "doomed to fail", a leading Aboriginal activist has said on Tuesday.

Yawuru tribe leader Patrick Dodson has said the "Closing the Gap" policy, which was designed to end disadvantage for Indigenous Australians and help them access basic healthcare and welfare, should be shut down unless the government consults Aboriginal leaders on the issue, as Indigenous communities are yet to "buy in" to the program.

Dodson's comments are the latest in a long line of criticisms aimed at the government about the lack of consultation with Indigenous leaders over issues relating to Aboriginal Australians, with disagreements over Aboriginal constitutional recognition stealing headlines over the past 12 months.

The Closing the Gap program, which was founded in 2006 as a way to discover and reduce the disparities between the Indigenous people and other Australians, is in its 10th year of operation and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is set to release the eighth report on its progress on Wednesday.

Turnbull will detail how the program is working within Indigenous communities, but Dodson has said it is time to "scrap" the policy as it is unsuccessful.

"There's a lot of aspiration and maybe good intention, but unless you get participation from Indigenous entities at a local level and community level, it's not going to work," Dodson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday.

"Without Indigenous participation it's going to be doomed to fail and all we'll see is another record of some achievements in some minor areas, but we're basically just changing the tablecloth on a table without really realizing that the white ants are eating the legs out of the table, and we have to restructure the whole nature of our relationship."

Dodson said the Aboriginal people felt a lot more strongly about achieving constitutional recognition instead of being a part of an "accounting exercise" on reducing disadvantage.

"I think it's a problem if the leader of the country is not paying attention to these significant issues that are affecting Indigenous peoples in this country," Dodson said.

Turnbull is expected to announce the latest progress report on the Closing the Gap program on Wednesday. Endit