Recognising the 10-year anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, the Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, reiterated his “for, not to” approach in facilitating public policy for Indigenous empowerment. Reflecting on the Government’s progress to meet the seven key targets of the Closing the Gap framework, only three Gaps are on track to be closed:
Year 12 attainment by 2020
Mortality rates for children under five by 2018, and
Enrolment in early childhood education by 2025.
The remaining four targets include:
Life expectancy
School attendance
Unemployment, and
School reading and numeracy gaps.
In his speech to Parliament on Tuesday, Prime Minister Turnbull demonstrated his dedication to facilitating Indigenous access to government contracts and funding. For example, the Indigenous Procurement Policy (2015) has increased Indigenous business engagement in government contracts from just $6 million in 2012–13 to $1 billion at present. Furthermore, the Prime Minister committed 50 per cent ($2.5 billion) of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding to Indigenous run providers. This is a 30 per cent increase from last year. The Government also announced the appointment of a new Indigenous Commissioner at the Productivity Commission to assess Indigenous policy and committed $50 million in funding for policy research.
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