Greens welcome release of Close the Gap targets

The Australian Greens today welcomed the release of the Close the Gap: National Indigenous Health Targets.

"The targets set out a path for Australian Governments to achieve their stated goal of closing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy gap within a generation," said Senator Rachel Siewert today.

"We now have a mechanism for measuring the performance of the Commonwealth and State Governments in addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health disadvantage and holding the COAG process accountable."

"While the Close the Gap blueprint identifies some of the 'low hanging fruit' where some major gains can be made to improve Indigenous health, it is crucial that governments take to heart its warning not to 'cherry pick' specific targets," said Senator Siewert.

"Unless COAG ensures that there is sufficient infrastructure for general service delivery and a sufficient supply of health workers to supply 'equal access for equal need' it will not be able to meet its ultimate targets."

The Australian Greens support the Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma's, call for a human rights approach to ending the Indigenous health crisis and the need for benchmarks and targets to ensure accountability long to way.

"Ensuring that it is an equal and ongoing partnership with Indigenous communities and building the capacity of Aboriginal health workers in the longer term will be fundamental to once and forever closing the gap," she concluded.

For more information or comment call Chris Twomey on 0407 725 025