[Peetwo]

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price on Oz Story - 

Plus via the AP emails:

[font='Segoe UI', 'Segoe UI Web (West European)', -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif]Dear P2,

This week the government released their annual update to Closing the Gap.

The “gap” is the differences in outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians across a range of economic, educational, and well-being measures.

Disappointingly, the government’s response did not include two crucial areas of reform recommended by the Productivity Commission in 2024.

This is nothing new.

And I’ve been consistent and forthright in my criticisms of how the Albanese Labor Government has handled addressing Indigenous disadvantage.

But I’ve got more big-picture concerns about the Closing the Gap report and overall process.

Because I don’t believe we can really trust the data.

That’s not to say there isn’t a “gap” that needs closing, of course there is.

But the fact is not all Indigenous Australians are marginalised or struggling; but by treating the whole Indigenous population as a monolithic group, the Closing the Gap process simply repeats the same mistakes we’ve seen over and over again.

It is, once again, trying to help people based on race and not on need.

So of course we’re not meeting the targets.

In my view, we’ve also seen self-identication of Indigeneity grow in an unnatural way, skewing the baseline for the data and so we’re not getting a true indication of how Closing the Gap is or isn’t working.

Governments continue to throw money at the same problems and are not getting anywhere.

That’s why we need a full and frank audit into spending in Indigenous affairs so we can get to the bottom of what works and what doesn’t.

And then we must focus on economic empowerment and directing assistance to people based on need not race.

Until we do that, the gap will remain stubbornly wide and it’s our most marginalised who pay the price.

Yours for REAL solutions,


Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
Senator for the Northern Territory
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians[/font]

Senator BMack dukes it out with 'Lighter Shade of Green' Zali Steggall?? 

Plus JL's cartoon in the Oz today...



MTF...P2