Submission on closing the gap

Abstract

"The inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Aboriginal people in health and wellbeing is driven by the historical injustices of colonisation, dispossession and marginalisation, violent and forced displacement from customary lands, child removal practices and policies, and the discriminatory legal and social regulation that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been subjected to over the past 230 years. These processes have resulted in disadvantaged circumstances that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face today, including inter-generational trauma, systemic racism and discrimination, homelessness, disproportionately high rates of child removal, and the high rates of violence and imprisonment that are devastating<br/ >Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.<br/ ><br/ >The Closing the Gap 'refresh' offers an opportunity to deliver meaningful change on these factors. In order to make significant progress and deliver real change, Closing the Gap must respond to all aspects of disadvantage. Most importantly, without genuine partnership and collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations, the Government risks another decade of "doing to" rather than "doing with".<br/ ><br/ >The over-imprisonment and disproportionate violence rates affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are both a product of, and contribute to, social factors such as lack of access to education, barriers to employment, poor health, lack of required disability supports, contact with child protection, and experiences of violence>" (page 3)