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Closing the Gap - CEO Update
Fundamental change is needed to Close the Gap, and for many, that change can be confronting and difficult. However, the Productivity Commission’s recent review of progress on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap is optimistic that change can indeed be achieved, despite acknowledging the widening gap.
As the review highlights, the gap is not a natural phenomenon but one that is ‘a direct result of the ways in which governments have used their power over many decades’. So, it is not surprising that the first recommendation to be found in the report is around the need for power to be shared between First Nations Peoples and non-indigenous Australians. The COVID-19 crisis has shown us this is possible. It does, however, require the Government as well as those in other stewardship roles, to trust that relinquishing power will achieve better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
Other recommendations from the review call for mainstream government systems and culture to be fundamentally rethought, as well as introducing greater accountability within these systems. Recommendations explicitly call for those that are funded and contracted to provide First Nations health care to be held to account and abide by the Priority Reforms in the Agreement.
By listening to our colleagues, AHHA has been able to reflect on the organisation’s role in Closing the Gap, and it has become clear that success will be dependent on a commitment to embedding the four Priority Reform Areas in our own activities. Only then, will we be able to support the genuine systemic reform needed.
This issue of The Health Advocate shares the views and actions being taken by our members and colleagues across the system to Close the Gap.
