November 17, 2016 - - SNAICC – National Voice for our Children CEO Gerry Moore has responded to findings from the Productivity Commission’s Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report, which was released today. “I think we have every right to be disheartened by the findings in the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report this year. It’s great to be able to look at some of the figures and see that things are being turned around in some areas, but we shouldn’t have any areas, let alone so many important ones, where disadvantage in our community is increasing.”
The 2016 report has shown that measurements for drug and alcohol use, mental health, suicide, self-harm, and juvenile imprisonment have all alarmingly regressed.
As far as our children are concerned, the data is not there to know what progress is being made in early childhood education and care, or child abuse and neglect; we must do more to address these data gaps so we can better identify issues and measure progress.
We’ve just released the Family Matters Report, which analyses data on child safety and well-being in depth. I’m hopeful that community and government can work together with this data to see the recommendations from that report taken up so we can see genuine, sustained change for our children.
SNAICC has again invited Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his colleagues within the Federal Government to meet with the leaders of the Redfern Statement to discuss the necessary investments required to move towards genuine advancement.
It is clear that the commission has some understanding of what is required to turn things around – you can see that in the writing of the report, where things like community involvement and trust building are championed – but good intentions aren’t enough if they’re not followed by actions.
We need to see greater investment from government in not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs, but in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Work with us.
Gerry Moore