Closing the Gap Framework Review
17 November 2023
The Law Council made a submission on 27 October 2023 to the Productivity Commission’s first review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, regarding its proposed Draft Report.
The Law Council has long supported the Closing the Gap framework. It particularly welcomed the inclusion of Socioeconomic Outcomes linked to the justice sector (Socioeconomic Targets 10 to 13), which were added to the refreshed National Agreement in July 2020.
The Productivity Commission’s first review focuses on the Priority Reforms (rather than the Socioeconomic Outcomes and Targets) under the National Agreement, which reflect areas for joint national action aimed at changing the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The four Priority Reform areas—which all Australian Governments and the Coalition of Peaks (the Parties under the National Agreement) have agreed to uphold—are, in short:
- strengthen and establish genuine formal partnerships and shared decision-making (Priority Reform 1);
- build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled sector (Priority Reform 2);
- transform government organisations to improve accountability and better respond to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Priority Reform 3); and
- improve and share access to data to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to make informed decisions about the programs operating in their regions (Priority Reform 4).
In concert with the views provided by its Constituent Bodies, the Law Council noted its general support for the tone, content and recommendations made by the Productivity Commission in the Draft Report.
The Law Council commended the Productivity Commission’s straightforward approach under the review, with the Draft Report emphasising that governments at all levels across Australia are inadequately delivering on their commitments under the framework or at the level of structural change that the Priority Reforms require. The Law Council emphasised the need for a national shift in perspective towards a human rights culture and embedded in respect, protection, and fulfillment of indigenous rights, centred on the principle of self-determination. It encouraged governments to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are clearly heard in the solutions on the issues that affect them and their communities, with genuine authority for shared decision-making on significant policy matters.
The Law Council also supplemented its views with recent examples of instances in which governments have made legislative and policy reform decisions inconsistent with, or counterproductive to, their commitments under the National Agreement. This was based on the input received from Constituent Bodies, which were strongly focused on issues of concern in the youth justice space, as well as the numerous outstanding recommendations from the royal commissions, inquests, reviews, and reports of the justice system that have occurred over the past 35 years.
The Productivity Commission is due to release its final report in December.
Last Updated on 17/11/2023