Latest news with #CatherineLiddle
ABC News
01-08-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Mixed progress on Closing the Gap
Nick Grimm: Australia is still largely failing to close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in key health and welfare targets. The latest Closing the Gap report from the Productivity Commission has found only four out of 19 targets are on track to be met and that tough-on-crime policies are directly undermining progress. But there is some cause for optimism with improvements in First Nations employment and preschool enrolment, as Bridget Fitzgerald reports. Bridget Fitzgerald: Closing the Gap is an agreement. It's a promise between peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and governments to address the political exclusion and institutional racism that's led to entrenched disadvantage among First Nations people. And while the failings are clear, so too are the successes. Catherine Liddle: In amongst it there's always, always pockets of light. Bridget Fitzgerald: Catherine Liddle is the CEO of SNAICC, the national advocacy group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The Productivity Commission's latest Closing the Gap report has found that only four out of 19 targets are on track to be met. With the rates of adult incarceration, children in out-of-home care, suicide rates and childhood development likely to continue to worsen. But Catherine Liddle says the areas that have seen improvements, including employment, preschool enrolment and land and sea rights, are the product of genuine government commitment and engagement with community. Catherine Liddle: Change is possible and that happens when you truly commit to the national agreement and those things that change the way communities are able to work with you. That's investing into community controlled approaches, listening to communities about the services that they need. Bridget Fitzgerald: The report found that nationally the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration is increasing and the target of a 15 per cent reduction by 2031 isn't on track to be met. Of the jurisdictions where Indigenous incarceration is getting worse, the Northern Territory had the largest increase. Selwyn Button is the Commissioner of the Productivity Commission and a Goongarrie man from southwest Queensland. He says there's a direct correlation between tough on crime policies, particularly in the NT, and poor Closing the Gap outcomes. Selwyn Button: You can't actually arrest your way out of an issue, but it's thinking about the different approaches to doing things. And if investment goes into early intervention, if they're investing in programs, working alongside community control organisations to think about diversionary activities, to think about therapeutic services, I think we'll get a far better response. Bridget Fitzgerald: Dr Hannah McGlade is an Associate Professor at Curtin Law School. We Dr Hannah McGlade: are seeing systemic racial discrimination in laws and a failure to implement important inquiries that we've had into these issues. Bridget Fitzgerald: Malarndirri McCarthy is the Minister for Indigenous Australians and Senator for the Northern Territory. She says it's clear high rates of incarceration, particularly the over-representation of youth offenders, continues to be a problem. Malarndirri McCarthy: I'm not saying that if you commit a crime you don't do the time. You must do the time that's equivalent to the crime. But we have to have a look at the statistics to ask why is it that we see so many young people before these courts who are in watch houses, who are in overcrowding. Bridget Fitzgerald: Meanwhile, the Federal Parliament has backed a motion today from Independent Senator Lydia Thorpe to acknowledge the recent death in custody of 24-year-old Warlpiri man Kumunjai White and extend sympathies to the families of 602 Indigenous people who've died in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Nick Grimm: Bridget Fitzgerald reporting.
SBS Australia
31-07-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Closing the gap targets failing to improve childhood development, reduce suicide rates
New data shows "significant deserts" and service gaps are contributing to worsening rates of incarceration and childhood development for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Just four of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met, according to the latest data from the Productivity Commission. But key targets, including adult imprisonment rates, children in out-of-home care, suicide and childhood development, are continuing to worsen. The report comes as the number of First Nations people who have died in police or prison custody exceeds 600 deaths since a landmark royal commission handed down recommendations in 1991. Productivity commissioner Selwyn Button said the review shows the outcomes of the agreement are falling well short of what governments have committed to. The review found Indigenous community-controlled organisations are key to progress, and governments must listen to First Nations people and share decision-making power to create positive change. "What the outcomes in the agreement reflect most of all is the limited progress of governments in collectively acting on the priority reforms: sharing decision making and data with communities; strengthening the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector and changing the way governments operate," he said. Catherine Liddle, the CEO of peak Aboriginal advocacy body SNAICC, told Radio National the four improving targets are ones "the government truly committed to". These targets are preschool program enrolments, employment, and land and sea native title and legal rights. She said the government needs to "lean in and try harder" to address "significant deserts and gaps" in social services. In particular, early childhood support needs to see improvement, she said, as preschool enrolments have a limited effect if children aren't prepared for school. Only 33.9 per cent of children starting school were developmentally on track, a decrease from previous years. The report also found that more than one-third of kids in youth detention last year first entered the system when they were 10–13 years old. — With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press Readers seeking crisis support can ring Lifeline on 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14, the Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged up to 25). More information and support with mental health is available at and on 1300 22 4636.
SBS Australia
07-05-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Hope and action: community reacts after Labor landslide
Palawa Elder Rodney Dillon, SNAICC chief executive Catherine Liddle and Central Land Council chair Warren Williams are all calling on Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for real action for First Nations people. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has secured an historic second term in government following a decisive victory for the Labor Party in the federal election, marking the first time since 2004 that a leader has secured back-to-back electoral victories. It was a devastating result for the Coalition, which is on track for its worst-ever result in a federal election, with Peter Dutton making history by becoming the first opposition leader to lose his own seat, with Dickson falling to Labor's Ali France. Palawa Elder Rodney Dillon, Indigenous rights advisor at Amnesty International, says that the landmark result presents a significant opportunity for the nation to unite. 'We were sliding down a way that was trying to split us all apart, and I think that this has turned that around a bit,' he told NITV. Mr Albanese began his victory speech on Saturday night with a pointed Acknowledgement of Country. 'My fellow Australians ... the first thing that I do tonight is to say thank you to the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve the best nation on earth,' Mr Albanese said to cheers from supporters at Labor headquarters in Sydney. "And I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet, and I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, today and every day." In the last week of the campaign, Mr Dutton made a last-ditch foray into the culture wars, described the Welcome to Country as 'overdone, cheapening its significance' (also confusing an Acknowledgement with Welcome to Country). Mr Albanese seemed intent on countering those events, as well as the opposition's response to them, in his rhetoric on Saturday night. 'Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values; for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all," he said. "For the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need. "We will be a government that supports reconciliation with First Nations people, because we will be a stronger nation when we close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians." Mr Dillon said it is encouraging that reconciliation is at the top of the PM's agenda. 'We shouldn't have Closing the Gap, but we have to have it because of the the reasons that are there," he said. "I think that it gives him good initiative to address those issues of Closing the Gap, which parties previously haven't been able to do ... "Gaps in housing, health, justice, schooling - these things are the same as they were 30 years ago. 'Australians have said, 'We don't want that divide, we don't need that divide'. "I think this will take us down that road of all working together for the good of this country and addressing all the issues in the country, not just some of them.' Mr Dillon says that the campaign run by Peter Dutton did not aim to improve the country, but rather sought to divide. "We've had enough of that in the past and we've seen that hasn't worked," he said. "And they didn't have one policy that was going to address Closing the Gap - they never mentioned the homelessness, the dispossession of our people, education, health, justice. "The only thing he wants to do is lock more Aboriginal people up.' SNAICC, the peak body representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, welcomed the election result. Chief executive Catherine Liddle, an Arrernte and Luritja woman, said the win confirms that Australians want a society where all children and young people are safe, nurtured and can thrive. 'What we have is an ... extraordinary momentum in Australia to move differently," she said. "While all the analytics are still coming in, it does appear that women and young people played a significant role in the result. "And when we wonder what caused that, it absolutely leans into an overwhelming sentiment that people want to care for each other and that we want to invest in a kinder Australia.' Ms Liddle said Closing the Gap starts with children, praising some of the initiatives announced by the government prior to the election. 'If we can get in early, if we can work with our children and our families at that point in time, then children are set up to thrive," she said. "[With] the removal of the activity test ... the investment into ensuring that our early educators are paid and recognised ... and the ability to build new centres and increase the incredible infrastructure that our early education and care centres work with ... there's some really, really promising bright spots in there.' However, Ms Liddle pointed out that Labor had said very little during the campaign on commitments into ensuring children are always safe and supported, which works for effective child protection. "We know that the (Closing the Gap) target relating to child removals is way too big, it's still not moving because [of] the investment that hasn't come in," she said. "The federal government holds the levers that could genuinely change that tide of over-representation." In the wake of the size of the Coalition wipeout, Northern Territory Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Nampijipa Price took aim at the media and Labor, saying there were attempts to 'smear' her, after images emerged of her wearing a 'Make America Great Again' cap. "In terms of wanting this country to be great, Donald Trump doesn't own those four words," she told the ABC in a tense interview on election night. "Here in Lingiari (the NT seat won by Labor's Marion Scrymgour with an increased margin) Aboriginal people are going to continue to be marginalised, the gap is going to get wider because we take an ideological approach to all of these issues and Labor will continue to do that." The NT's Central Land Council welcomed Mr Albanese's commitment in his election night speech to supporting the empowerment of First Nations people, with chair Warren Williams saying issues that needed to be addressed in the region included the cost of living, lack of jobs and housing. The CLC also welcomed Labor's commitment to finalising a First Nations Economic Empowerment Partnership with the Coalition of Peaks. 'Together, we hope to strengthen outcomes for our communities, support self-determination and ensure Aboriginal voices continue to shape the decisions that affect our lives,' Mr Williams said. Interviews and feature reports from NITV. A mob-made podcast about all things Blak life. The Point: Referendum Road Trip Live weekly on Tuesday at 7.30pm Join Narelda Jacobs and John Paul Janke to get unique Indigenous perspectives and cutting-edge analysis on the road to the referendum. Watch now
