National Close the Gap Day (March 17) - ‘Transforming Power’

National Close the Gap Day (NCTGD) is a national day of action to pledge support for achieving Indigenous health equality by 2030. ‘Transforming Power: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led transformation’ is the message of this year’s NCTGD.  

For First Nations peoples, good health is holistic and includes physical, social, emotional, cultural, spiritual, and ecological wellbeing. This is why First Nations peoples need to be at the centre of health planning, particularly during the global pandemic, and empowered for self-determination. 

We urge members to get involved in the day and the broader campaign - as non-Indigenous allies, it is our responsibility to amplify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices on the issue. The ANTAR (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) website section on NCTGD provides a broad range of activities and actions that staff and students can select to undertake within schools (see: https://antar.org.au/closethegap/extra-guidance-schools). 

We also suggest getting involved in Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) within your school and consulting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues, who may have unique concerns requiring action or support. Contact the union if you have any ideas for how we can better support the health and wellbeing of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members by contacting fnaag@ieuvictas.org.au. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consistently experience some of the poorest health and life expectancy outcomes of any demographic in the world, while non-Indigenous Australians enjoy one of the highest. This unacceptable and ever-widening gap in health equality is the core of what the Close the Gap campaign, launched in 2007, seeks to address. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can expect to live approximately 17 years fewer than other Australians. Babies born to Aboriginal mothers die at more than twice the rate of other Australian babies, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience higher rates of preventable illnesses such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes. The COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years has only further highlighted the need for action: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities are at high risk of outbreaks and severe outcomes due to already existing health and socioeconomic inequalities such as reduced access to services, barriers to treatment (including institutional racism) and high rates of chronic disease. 

The Close the Gap campaign began when Tom Calma, the then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, released his report on the appalling gap in life expectancy and health standards in Australia. He then called on Indigenous, health and human rights organisations to join to form the Close the Gap campaign. In 2007, Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe launched the campaign at Olympic Stadium. The following year, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and opposition leader Brendan Nelson signed the Close the Gap Statement of Intent, committing future federal governments to closing the gap. On the 10 year anniversary of the campaign in 2018, a review highlighted that the gap in life expectancy is shockingly widening ˗ making union-wide support for the National Close the Gap Day, on March 17th, critical to keep the campaign a priority for our governments, especially during an election year. 

It is crucial to challenge narratives that deflects responsibility away from governments. When health is constructed as purely an area of individual responsibility, and these communities who are at greater risk are labelled as ‘vulnerable populations’, we run the risk of essentialising race, ethnicity, or Indigeneity, which is a form of systemic racism. Any attempt to distract from the root cause or falsely shift the blame for these issues onto the people and their communities, instead of our healthcare system and governments, is a big step in the wrong direction.  

These issues lie deep within our society. The inequitable burden of health outcomes stems from settler colonialism and government policies that systematically dispossessed, disempowered, and oppressed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Significant and meaningful shifts in governance, policy, healthcare funding, resource distribution, infrastructure, education (and more) is required before the gap can be closed.  

Our governments can deliver first-rate health outcomes for non-Indigenous Australians. There is no excuse for not ensuring the same outcomes for our First Nations citizens.