Closing the Gap

The Closing the Gap framework is a strategy by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments of Australia that aims to reduce disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians on key health, education and economic opportunity targets. The strategy was launched in 2008 in response to the Close the Gap social justice movement, and revised in 2020 with additional targets and a refreshed strategy.

The Closing the Gap targets relate to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, literacy and numeracy at specified school levels, Year 12 attainment, school attendance, and employment outcomes. Annual Closing the Gap reports are presented to federal parliament, providing updates on the agreed targets and related topics. The Closing the Gap Report 2019 reported that of the seven targets, only two – early childhood education and Year 12 attainment – had been met. The remaining targets are not on track to be met within their specified time-frames.

From the adoption of the framework in 2008 until 2018, the federal and state and territory governments worked together via the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) on the framework, with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet producing a report at the end of each year analysing progress on each of its seven targets.

In 2019, the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) was established and took over reporting and high-level strategy responsibilities. The NIAA works in partnership with the Coalition of Peaks, which represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, as well as state and territory governments and the Australian Local Government Association, to deliver strategy outcomes.

In March 2006, the Steering Committee of the Close the Gap, a social justice campaign focused on Indigenous health, in which "Australia's peak Indigenous and non-Indigenous health bodies, NGOs and human rights organisations are working together to achieve equality in health", first met. Their campaign was launched in April 2007 by patrons Catherine Freeman and Ian Thorpe.

During meetings held in December 2007 and March 2008 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) adopted six targets to improve the well-being of Indigenous Australians over the next five to twenty years. As part of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's February 2008 Apology to Indigenous Australians, he pledged the government to bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian health, education and living conditions. He also proposed to establish a commission to "close the gap" between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in "life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity", all in a way that respects their rights to self-determination.

The Australian government adopted the goals of the Close the Gap campaign in 2008, in a strategy known as "Closing the Gap". Rudd and Health Minister Nicola Roxon signed the Close the Gap Statement of Intent to close the gap. This document serves two purposes: firstly, as a formal agreement between the Australian government of the day and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and, secondly, as an embodiment of a human right, a blueprint for achieving health equality. The strategy has been funded by the government to develop a long-term action plan targeted at health services to achieve health equality and life expectancy equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In the Prime Minister's Foreword to the Closing the Gap Report 2019, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that while some improvements had been made, including greater retention to Year 12, successive governments had been reporting failure to meet targets. After beginning the process of a Closing the Gap "refresh" two year earlier (after four of the targets were due to expire in 2018), this would be the final report of the framework established in 2008. In December 2018, a coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, the Coalition of Peaks had met with Morrison, and shortly afterwards COAG First Ministers had agreed to a different form of partnership with Indigenous organisations, entailing greater collaboration. In future, there would be a transition to a different phase of Closing the Gap, involving a whole of government approach, with "all governments sharing accountability for progress, and extending this shared accountability to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".