
Australia politics live: only four out of 19 Closing the Gap targets improving, latest report shows
Date: 2025-07-30T20:32:14.000Z
Title:
Content: Without changing the approach to Closing the Gap, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will continue to 'pay the price', Indigenous organisations say.
Just four of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met, according to the latest data from the Productivity Commission, the Australian Associated Press reports.
But key targets, including adult imprisonment rates, children in out-of-home care, suicide and childhood development are continuing to worsen.
While there have been improvements in Year 12 attainment, tertiary education and housing access, these are not on track to meet deadlines.
Update:
Date: 2025-07-30T20:28:34.000Z
Title: Welcome
Content: Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I'm Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
The latest Closing the Gap report has been released this morning and it shows that progress is being made on only four of the 19 targets. Indigenous groups and advocates say governments need to do more. More details coming up.
Anika Wells, the communications minister, appeared on 7.30 last night to explain the government's decision to restrict children's YouTube access. More details coming up on that as well.
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The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
University of Sydney removes Palestinian flag from academic's window after accusing him of breaching policy
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Prior to this, he had received an email from the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Prof Lisa Adkins, advising him the university was 'aware of a flag' they believed he had displayed on the outer wall of the A18 Brennan MacCallum building. 'We consider that the ongoing display of the flag is inconsistent with clause 2.8(1) of the Policy which confirms that unapproved flags can be displayed in such areas on a temporary basis only,' Adkins wrote on 26 June. 'To this end, we require you to remove the flag from the outer wall of the building by 4 August 2025. Should the flag not be removed by this time, it will be removed by Central Operations staff and will be treated as lost property.' Sign up: AU Breaking News email The flag policy notes flags must not be flown from university infrastructure without approval from the brand team, and that 'no structure or fixture may be attached to any building to allow a flag to be displayed without approval'. 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Brophy told Guardian Australia he had received no 'direct explanation' as to why 'it's such a bad thing to have this flag up'. The flag was removed when he was not in the office, he said, and as of Wednesday afternoon he was yet to receive a response to his email. 'I've filed a lost property report, and I'm hoping security will be able to locate my flag,' he said. 'I'd like to think the outer facing window of an office at a university was a place where some kind of display of opinion was still possible. 'But the whole flag policy was introduced precisely in response to people like me hanging Palestinian flags … they're hiding behind their policy to justify the action.' 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The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Donald Trump's war on statistics is an authoritarian attack on democracy and countries like Australia should call it out
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The Guardian
5 hours ago
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Hundreds more CSIRO jobs on the chopping block as experts raise fears over impact on science
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