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Warning: this article discusses themes that may be distressing to some readers, including suicide.
Advocates have demanded the government take up community-supported initiatives, as the latest Closing the Gap figures demonstrate the ongoing failure to address the effects of colonisation, especially for children.
The data for 2023-2024, released by the Productivity Commission on Thursday, shows multiple areas deteriorating, including the number of children in out of home care and their educational development.
Many others, such as youth employment and healthy birthweights, have displayed some improvement but not enough to meet the set targets.
Youth justice has shown no improvement from the baseline, meaning Blak 10-17-year-olds are some 30 times more likely to be in detention than their non-Indigenous peers.
Catherine Liddle, chief executive of SNAICC, the national body for Indigenous children, said the figures should be a wake up call.
“These are not the failings of our children, our families or our organisations,” the Arrernte Luritja woman said in a statement.
“It’s clear the ‘business-as-usual approach’ is not hitting the mark and the need for community-led early intervention programs and family support services are not being met.
“Systems built for us, but without us, will never drive the change we have to see.”
A Productivity Commission review, released in February last year, found significant failings in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap had led to “weak” progress implementing the majority of the reforms.
The report questioned whether governments had “fully grasped the scale of change” required, and advised that a “paradigm shift” was necessary in deciding which strategies to implement.
“Governments at the Federal and State levels have still not committed to the findings of this report,” she said.
“It’s just not good enough.”
‘Wake-up call’
Target 12 of the Closing the Gap agreement aims to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out of home care by 45 per cent by 2031.
However the figures show the numbers worsening: 5 per cent of Indigenous children were in out of home care arrangements in 2024, up from 2019’s baseline of 4.7 per cent.
Indigenous children are 11 times more likely than non-Indigenous kids to be in out of home care.
Educational outcomes showed a similar deterioration. Just 34 per cent of First Nations children commencing school are considered developmentally “on track”, down from 35 per cent.
Youth justice has shown no improvement from the baseline: 26 out of every 10,000 Indigenous children were in detention in jurisdictions across the country last year.
“Without substantial change, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will be left behind,” Ms Liddle said.
“If we continue down this path, we will fail in our shared responsibility to protect and care for these children, and to give them the opportunity to succeed.”
Stop spending on ‘cops, courts and cages’
Other targets, such as social and emotional wellbeing, and the number of Indigenous people caught up in the criminal justice system, have also gone backwards.
The rate of First Nations suicide is the worst it has been compared to the baseline rate of 2018: 30 out of every 100,000 people, up from 24.
And 2.3 per cent of the adult First Nations population was incarcerated last year, showing a steady increase from last year and 2019’s baseline (1.9 per cent).
Debbie Kilroy, chief executive of Sisters Inside, an advocacy group for women who have been criminalised, said the numbers are no surprise.
“While governments across every state and territory focus on building prisons and the only response to any social issues is a carceral response, we’re always going to see the mass incarceration of Aboriginal people increase,” she told NITV.
Following election campaigns in both the Northern Territory and Queensland last year that emphasised so-called “tough on crime” approaches, new harsh laws, including some that affect children, have been passed in both jurisdictions.
and have seen an explosion in incarceration numbers and condemnation from the UN.
Ms Kilroy said such laws meant the gap would “never” close.
“It will always widen, because that’s where all the monies and resources are targeted,” she said.
“Instead of spending money on cops, courts and cages, spend the money on social issues so people can thrive.
“So address poverty, end racism, build homes, have access to free education and health so that people can thrive in our communities, not die in cages.
“And we know that Aboriginal people die in cages at a higher rate than anybody else.”
