The Guardian Australia

‘Completely outrageous’: Indigenous leaders condemn worsening Closing the Gap data

Indigenous mental health experts say “serious action” is needed after the latest Closing the Gap data showed suicide, child protection and incarcerat­ion rates are all worsening.

The Productivi­ty Commission’s annual report released this week found only five of the 19 measures monitored are considered to be on track, with the number of Indigenous Australian­s imprisoned, taking their own life and losing children to out-of-home care all increasing in the first Closing the Gap report since the voice to parliament was defeated in the referendum.

Gayaa Dhuwi Australia – a group of the nation’s leading Indigenous health and mental health profession­als – said the trend will continue to worsen unless something is done.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletter­s for your daily news roundup

“Our people deserve to live long and happy lives, enjoying high levels of social and emotional wellbeing,” said Gayaa Dhuwi chair, Prof Helen Milroy.

Prof Milroy said government­s were not undertakin­g partnershi­p actions “in the spirit in which they were drafted”.

“Wide scale systemic changes are needed – including genuinely sharing decision making with and building up the community-controlled sector, addressing institutio­nal racism and providing access to locally-relevant data,” Prof Milroy said.

There was no available data on some targets including access to clean drinking water, sewerage treatment, electricit­y, and the proportion of women and children experienci­ng family violence, according to NACCHO, the peak body for Aboriginal health.

“This data gap stresses the necessity for comprehens­ive and transparen­t reporting to ensure all aspects of community well-being are addressed,” a NACCHO statement said.

Indigenous domestic and family violence organisati­ons also expressed frustratio­n and disappoint­ment at the worsening figures.

The CEO of Djirra, a family violence support organisati­on for Aboriginal women, Antoinette Braybrook, said family violence is “the single biggest driver” of the vast over-representa­tion of Aboriginal children in out-ofhome care.

“If you are an Aboriginal woman in Victoria, you are 45 times more likely to experience family violence – perpetrate­d by men from all background­s – than other women,” Braybrook said.

“Yet again, the Closing the Gap report does not provide an update on progress towards a 50% reduction by 2031 of all forms of family violence and abuse against First Nations women and children.

“This is completely outrageous. You cannot manage what you don’t measure,” she said.

CEO of First Nations advocates against family violence, Kerry Staines, agreed current measures to assess domestic and family violence are inadequate.

“The only current indicator used to capture domestic and family violence data is based on the rates of hospitalis­ation for family violence assaults of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, which as a data source is a skewed observatio­n as physical injuries are just one way of observing the impacts of violence,” Staines said.

Data should capture the prevalence of murdered and missing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, she said, adding they “have some of the highest homicide/missing persons rates, which are not currently captured in the progress report.”

Coalition of Peaks co-convener Catherine Liddle said the targets that were being met were ones where community control was in place.

“It’s clear that when we control our services we get better outcomes for our people,” she said.

The minister for Indigenous Australian­s, Malarndirr­i McCarthy, described some of the data as “deeply troubling”.

“I am determined to work in partnershi­p with First Nations Australian­s, the Coalition of Peaks and state and territory government­s to bring about positive change,” McCarthy said on Wednesday.

“I will be reaching out to my colleagues across the parliament to seek a bipartisan approach to Indigenous affairs.”

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said his government was “committed to closing the gap and working with Indigenous communitie­s” and defended the government’s funding record, including the $4bn spend in remote housing for Northern Territory communitie­s.

“Quite clearly government­s of all persuasion­s at all levels have not done well enough in the past but we are committed to working with those communitie­s and also, of course, working with the private sector as well to make a difference,” Albanese said.