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About 'Closing the Gap'
In late 2007, all state governments committed to a national Indigenous reform agenda through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).
In mid-2008, COAG agreed to spend $4.6 billion on initiatives for Indigenous Australians in the areas of:
- early childhood development
- health
- housing
- economic development
- remote service delivery
In October 2008, COAG endorsed the Indigenous Early Childhood Development National Partnership (NP) .
In November 2008, COAG agreed to the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) . This agreement captures the objectives, outcomes, performance measures and benchmarks that all governments have agreed to achieve through their National Agreements and National Partnerships (NPs).
COAG also agreed that the first NPs to start in 2009 will be:
- Indigenous Remote Service Delivery - $291.2 million over 6 years
- Indigenous economic participation - $228.8 million over 5 years
- remote Indigenous housing - $1.94 billion over 10 years
- Indigenous health - $1.6 billion over 4 years
COAG will hold a dedicated meeting on the 'closing the gap' program in 2009.
You can download copies of the partnership and agreement in both PDF and RTF formats documents from the COAG website.
Queensland's role
Queensland is contributing to the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) to 'frame the task of Closing the Gap in Indigenous disadvantage'. It is anticipated that the NIRA will evolve over time to reflect changed or new agreements.
Queensland is also contributing to new Service Delivery Principles for Programs and Services for Indigenous Australians, and National Investment Principles in Remote Locations. These will guide the state government's future policy and program work at all levels.
Queensland will also contribute to the development of a more comprehensive National Strategy for achieving the 6 COAG Closing the Gap targets. This strategy is scheduled to be considered at the COAG Indigenous reform meeting in 2009.
Other sites
- Closing the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
- Closing the Gap clearinghouse: evidence-based research
Last reviewed: 12 November 2009
