Close the Gap
Join Australia's largest campaign to improve Indigenous health
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can expect to live substantially shorter lives than other Australians – up to 17 years less in some cases.
Babies born to Aboriginal mothers die at twice the rate of other Australian babies, and experience higher rates of preventable illness such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes.
It’s a health crisis you’d associate with an impoverished nation, but it’s happening right here in our own backyard.
Together we are changing this picture.
What we’re campaigning for
We're part of the Close the Gap coalition calling on governments to take action to achieve Indigenous health equality within 25 years by:
- Increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders' access to health services
- Promoting real and meaningful partnerships between Indigenous people and organisations, and the government. Partnership agreements should give people influence at all stages of the decision-making process and must be adequately resourced.
- Addressing critical social issues such as poor housing, nutrition, employment and education
- Building Indigenous control and participation in the delivery of health and other services
- Getting governments at state and national level to work in partnership with Indigenous communities and Indigenous health organisations and expert to develop and monitor a plan to tackle the Indigenous health crisis
Achieving health equality
Statistics of shortened life expectancy are our mothers and fathers, uncles and aunties who live diminished lives. We die silently under these statistics."
Professor Mick Dodson, 2009 Australian of the Year and Aboriginal activist and lawyer
The Close the Gap campaign has attracted immense public support:
- More than 175,000 Australians have signed the Close the Gap pledge
- Thousands of Australians have written to the federal government demanding action
- Hundreds of thousands of Australians have taken part in National Close the Gap Day events held around Australia in the last five years. Register your event
- Every year, the National Rugby League (NRL) dedicates a round of their premiership competition to supporting and promoting the campaign
Photo: Lara McKinley/OxfamAUS
This show of public support has contributed to a shift in political will to tackle the health crisis. We have seen many significant and positive outcomes, including:
- The appointment of a Federal Minister for Indigenous Health
- The agreement of all state and territory governments and oppositions (bar Tasmania) to the Statement of Intent (the Northern Territory have agreed to the Statement of Intent but are yet to officially sign it)
- A political agreement to commence the development of a national Indigenous health plan in partnership with leading Indigenous health organisations
Continued bipartisan support to Close the Gap - The development of a strong and ongoing partnership with the NRL, which has already run three dedicated Close the Gap rounds
- A growing public movement with huge participation in National Close the Gap Day
- In February 2008 came the long-awaited national apology to the Stolen Generations, a moment in time that re-energised Australians to right the wrongs of our past
- ln March 2008, the Close the Gap coalition drafted a plan to address the Indigenous health crisis: former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed it, transforming this from a popular campaign to a force shaping government policy. We hold government to account to this commitment each year through our Shadow Report
- In November 2008, the Australian Government announced a $1.6 billion commitment to improve Indigenous health – the biggest ever injection of new funding for Indigenous health
Our challenge is to translate this public support, political will and historic mood into sustained improvements in Indigenous health to close the gap within a generation.
Show your support
- Sign the Close the Gap pledge
- Get involved in National Close the Gap Day
- Take the latest online action
Learn more
- Australia's Indigenous health crisis in-depth
- Read an update on the Close the Gap campaign in the Close the Gap Shadow Report (February 2011)
- Read the Close the Gap Partnership position paper (June 2010) - why a real partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is so important.
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