The Productivity Commission’s Report on the difficulties of ‘Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage’ showed mixed results for the ‘Closing the Gap’ project. The phrase itself is problematic because it fails to acknowledge (and factor in as a cause) the inability of the mainstream to recognise the contributions, strengths and wisdom of Aboriginal Australia in finding solutions. The report brought out a flurry of government and media responses that framed the causes as Indigenous deficits. These responses reinforce governments’ assumptions that the faults are with the intransigence of the communities, so they push proposals to cut booze and mandate healthy food in the outback stores. This ignores the deeper problems that need attention, such as questions of how services are delivered and what is really needed.
The media and politicos usually ignore the mainstream mistakes that add to the difficulties Indigenous communities face. Closing the Indigenous gap was never going to be easy, but their responses will unfortunately make it harder by reinforcing the widespread view that nothing has worked. Productivity Commission Chairman, Gary Banks, was obviously not pleased with the media response. He stated, ‘In the report’s analysis of successful Indigenous programs, four factors stand out: co-operation between Indigenous people and government; bottom up community involvement; ongoing government support; and good governance, within Indigenous communities and within government.’ Banks’ overview on p8 of the Report says ‘The main report includes many examples of things that work – activities and programs that are making a difference, often at the community level.’
I would suggest that much of what has been done by Governments, particularly over the last few years, has been top down and short term. It has not been based on Banks’ four factors, so blaming the victims is wrong. No media report raises the questions of what we/ the Governments/ the wider society might be doing wrong. There are scads of evidence to show that it is not the spending of money that works, but how it is done. The last government both verbally trashed the views of many Indigenous communities and removed their semi-independent voice, so advice is lacking. Evidence based inputs are badly needed, and might lead to better policies!
Further reading on what’s working:
http://www.whatsworking.com.au/
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
http://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/publications.php
IATSIS and The Australian Collaboration – Successful strategies in indigenous organisations:
http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research_program/publica…
http://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/research…
Cooperative research centre for Aboriginal health
Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse
http://www.indigenousjustice.gov.au/
FAHCSIA: The Directory of Indigenous-specific Evaluations 2002-2007
http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/pubs/evalu…
The Directory of Commonwealth Government Indigenous Research
http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/pubs/evalu…
Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (WGAR) on the problems of government policy
Eva Cox AO is a contributing author to CPD’s recent publication More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now. Eva’s chapter Strengthening our social fabric argues that we need to rethink our tax and income policy practices to make our society more civil. Eva was until recently Program Director, Social Inquiry at the University of Technology Sydney, and is now practicing being an unattached change agent while reviving her consultancy, Distaff Associates. She is the national Chair of the Women’s Electoral Lobby – an organisation in which she was a founding member in 1972. A strong feminist and advocate for women’s issues, she delivered the 1995 ABC Boyer Lectures on A Truly Civil Society which she is still trying to achive (available through ABC Books). She has researched and published on many policy and other social issues recently including: child care, sole parents and welfare payments, superannuation, social capital, community well being, asylum seekers, corporate social responsibility, research and evalution. A frequent media commentator, she sees herself as a problem solver rather than a specialist. Her current research interests include devising a more civil society, teaching community research skillls, policy formulation, indigenous child-care and domestic violence, the Welfare to Work program, and a wide range of gender issues, including parental leave.