I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
I would also like to acknowledge all the Indigenous members of Parliament, in particular the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and her predecessor the member for Barton, Linda Burney.
I am grateful for the commitment to the Partnership shown by States and Territories, responsible for so many of the services and supports that can help close the gap.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the work done by the Coalition of Peaks led by Pat Turner.
On Wednesday, it will be 60 years since the start of the Freedom Ride, a bus journey through regional NSW that opened our eyes wide to the discrimination against Indigenous Australians.
Led by Charles Perkins, it was a turning point in our self-awareness as a nation. It was the beginning of the possibility of something better.
On Thursday, it will be 17 years since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the Apology to the Stolen Generations.
It was a day of catharsis that held the promise of a fresh start.
Both anniversaries are reminders to learn from the injustices and mistakes of the past – because that’s how we grow, carefully reading the pages already written and turning to the promise of the new.
Each one of us is a part of this nation’s story.
Each of us adds to its newest chapters.
Like anything made stronger by its layers, we draw strength from Australia’s extraordinary and profound depths.
And we can take pride.
No nation’s story is simple, least of all Australia’s.
It is a rich, proud and deeply remarkable story, a story of hope, achievement, and survival against the odds.
Our stories are intertwined, but as the Closing the Gap report routinely lays bare, there are still too many areas in which we are not together.
The latest Productivity Commission reporting shows that while we are seeing improvements on 11 of the 19 targets in the National Agreement, only five are on track to be met.
Today is about facing up to what's not working and learning from what is.
The success stories in this report have been written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves.
Today our Government is investing in the practical partnerships that work and bringing the building blocks of a good life to people and communities that have been cut off from them too long.
From new medical facilities to safe housing, from clean water to real jobs.
At heart, all of us hope for the same things.
A healthy family.
A safe home and all that it entails.
An education that opens the way to a rewarding job.
Affordable medicines and health care.
Security. Justice. Fairness.
A sense of community in which we can be a meaningful part.
A stake in our economy.
And power over our own destinies, a power that rests in no small part on the strength of our financial circumstances.
In short, the chance to make the very most of our own lives and to lift those around us.
That is no more than any Australian asks for. It is no less than every Australian deserves.
Yet what we all know in this place is that it remains elusive for so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
There is no ethos more fundamentally Australian than the fair go.
Closing the Gap is the fairest go of all.
We want First Nations people to have ownership of their futures and a stake in the economy.
That is the foundation on which everything else can be built. If we get it right, we can break the cycle that has ensnared generations.
The Government is working to enhance Indigenous Business Australia’s ability to leverage its capital and investments to support First Nations communities.
It will support more First Nations people to start, grow and sustain businesses, purchase homes, and invest in commercial ventures.
We are working to increase the participation rate of First Nations women in business through the mentoring and coaching program to give them greater access to the resources, networks, and support they need to launch a viable business, commercialise a viable business idea, or grow an existing business.
We’re requiring businesses which register as First Nations businesses for Commonwealth procurement to be 51 per cent Indigenous-owned and controlled to improve the integrity of the program.
These are all common sense options.
Our new Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program will create 3000 real jobs in remote communities, jobs with proper pay and conditions.
Jobs that make a real difference to the lives of individuals, their families, and their communities.
Good jobs that provide a sense of pride and purpose, hope and aspiration.
Jobs that can have the power to generate intergenerational opportunity.
And we’re making it easier to develop necessary skills with the National Skills Agreement ensuring the design and delivery of Vocational Education and Training to First Nations people is in full and genuine partnership.
We are also creating 1000 new Indigenous ranger jobs across the country, a great success story that has allowed Australia to draw on the expertise of our Indigenous people.
As we realistically and methodically tackle the challenges of the present, we look with optimism to the future, a future in which Australia is uniquely placed to take its rightful place as a renewable energy superpower.
The growing global demand for the renewable energy, critical minerals and rare earths, which we have in abundance, is an unprecedented opportunity for Australia.
It is the biggest change in the global economy since the industrial revolution.
As I outlined at Garma, it represents the best chance Australia has ever had to bring lasting economic growth and prosperity to remote communities.
New clean energy projects and processing and refining facilities can all unlock new jobs and prosperity for communities.
I say to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, you deserve a real stake in the economic development of the land you call home.
You deserve a stake in the future.
That is the principle upon which we can build better future.
Projects generating renewable energy on country should bring new economic power to communities.
It’s all part of unlocking the potential of the land. Even more importantly, it’s part of unlocking the potential of its people.
So much of what we are doing is guided by the instinct to ensure every Australian has their best chance to fulfil their potential.
We are dedicated to building an Australia where more families know the stability of somewhere to call home.
The stability that gives you the confidence to plan for the future.
This is what is driving our commitment to build 2700 new homes in remote Northern Territory communities over 10 years.
More than 200 were built last year, no longer a dream but a life-affirming reality. Another 64 are due by June.
We are further investing in critical services in remote First Nations communities in the Territory, with $842.6 million to roll out over the next six years under the Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment.
Importantly, this investment package was designed and will be rolled out in partnership with the NT Government and the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory.
As well as maintaining and boosting critical remote services, this investment will transform how services are delivered in the longer term.
By elevating and investing in self-determination, NTRAI will ensure that communities can decide what works best them.
Partnering with APO NT will ensure these critical services are informed by the perspectives of Aboriginal people and strengthen the capacity of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to deliver remote services.
Our Housing Australia Future Fund is helping with repairs and maintenance on houses in remote First Nations communities.
And whether it’s construction of new homes or maintenance of existing ones, it means jobs for locals.
Indigenous Business Australia provides access to home loans to help First Nations Australians to buy their own home.
We are making $70 million available for more concessional loans to help IBA keep pace with demand.
A portion of this will be quarantined for single-carer families. This is particularly important for women who are sole carers and are often locked out of home ownership.
By providing shared equity to people in these situations, the IBA can help people access home ownership.
The work on housing, on job creation, on getting reliable energy into remote communities, on backing indigenous businesses and helping people own their own homes is vital to building economic opportunity.
But we know we must do more, guided by common sense, focused on delivery.
We want to see the principles of economic empowerment and opportunity incorporated at every step, from employment and training, to business, to access to finance and capital, and new business opportunities.
To develop new approaches to solving this, we are investing over five years to establish a First Nations Economic Framework and a First Nations Economic Partnership.
We work to close gaps by widening the doors of opportunity and what achieves that with lasting power is education.
In the first half of last year more than 10,300 First Nations people were among the hundreds of thousands of Australians, who have enrolled in fee-free TAFE.
Our Connected Beginnings Program is improving access to early childhood health and supports school readiness, with the total number of First Nations children supported through the program now nearly 25,000 over 50 sites.
Last year, 2500 First Nations young people at boarding schools supported by the Commonwealth’s Indigenous Boarding Provider Grant.
We have also announced funding to support the core operations two education peak bodies, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation and National Voice for Our Children.
We also recognise the huge potential for internet access to close the gap and to boost opportunities.
Through the Commonwealth Digital Connectivity pilot, WiFi infrastructure has already been installed in 22 remote communities in partnership with NBN Co, with 23 more to come.
For remote communities, the internet is life-changing. It makes telehealth consultations possible. It gives young people access to a better education, and it connects workers and businesses with new opportunities.
This year will also see the establishment of a First Nations Digital Support hub and a network of digital mentors to support the digital literacy and ability of First Nations people across Australia.
And telecommunications upgrades are also underway in more than 260 remote First Nations communities through the Remote Indigenous Telecommunication program.
We are also tackling issues of access to affordable food in remote communities.
Consumer advocacy organisation Choice found on average groceries cost more than double what they do in capital cities.
And supplies can be erratic. The resulting food insecurity can have serious health impacts, including cardiovascular and kidney disease.
Today I am pleased to announce we will ensure the costs of 30 essential products in more than 76 remote stores are the same as what you’d pay in the city as well as boosting warehouse capacity to shorten freight distances and to make supply chains to remote communities less vulnerable.
We will also build on the success of the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation’s Nutrition Workforce initiative, which trains First Nations shop staff to promote good nutrition.
We will bring that program to more communities.
Like Australians right across the continent, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are benefitting from this Government’s reduction of the cost of medicines.
Last year, coverage by the Closing the Gap Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment plan was expanded.
We have invested $100 million into 33 indigenous health infrastructure projects to construct new clinics and, crucially, build housing for staff.
This investment is critical to improving service delivery to patients and to improve conditions for staff, who are the absolute backbone of all of this.
More than 300 of our planned 500 First Nations Health Trainees are already in place.
We’re seeing better maternity services, and with that, improved birth weights.
Today, I can announce that we are funding suicide prevention through an important program to improve First Nations Social and Emotional Wellbeing.
This includes funding to support higher education scholarships for up to 150 tertiary education students studying psychology.
We are continuing to improve renal services to treat sufferers of kidney disease, which still hangs like a spectre over the outback.
The first of 30 new dialysis units opened last year in Coober Pedy.
Eight other locations are being established across remote Australia, from Torres Strait to the Pilbara.
Today I announce we are also upgrading or opening laundries in more than 10 remote communities in northern and central Australia.
By ensuring reliable clean water, power supply and access to laundries, we can reduce infections that can open the door to asthma, ear conditions, trachoma, and rheumatic heart disease, a third world disease that has all but faded from living memory in most of the country but retains its grip on Indigenous Australia.
As well as improving quality of life, reducing preventable diseases will reduce the longer term burden on the health system.
The remote laundries will be able to access the Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program to hire new staff, upskill staff, and create more local jobs.
In every area where it can help clear the road ahead to a better future, we are working with communities to make it happen.
From measures as straightforward as additional patrols in and around Alice Springs, we are working with elders and leaders who want the same as any of us: to prevent crime, boost community safety, and keep their young people from harming their own futures.
And we are boosting funding for Family Violence Legal Services to support women and children who lived with the bleak reality of family and domestic violence, because they have to have real options.
We cannot turn our backs on the catastrophic rate at which First Nations women suffer family domestic violence, often with tragic finality.
First Nations women are currently 33 times more likely than non-Indigenous Australians women to be hospitalised due to family violence and seven times more likely to die.
This cannot stand. We are funding critical prevention, early intervention and response services to address family, domestic, and sexual violence in high needs First Nations communities.
In an effort to stop violence before it starts, three new community-led Men’s Wellness Centres will be established in the Top End to provide support for First Nations men and boys to recognise signs of unhealthy relationships.
Culturally informed and specific to community, these programs will be developed and delivered by three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisations.
When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people advance, the entire nation moves forward.
We are delivering real results, but we are clear-eyed about the truth that there is so much more to do.
The road ahead is not easy, but crucially there is a road, and we keep adding to it.
To Close the Gap would ultimately erase the gulf that lies between us and our true potential as a nation.
It’s about ensuring all Australians get the same chance in life.
It’s about working towards the reality in which all Australians have power over their destiny.
It’s about living the reality of the fair go.
Ours is a remarkable country. A nation that is not an accident, or the mere jackpot of good luck.
A nation lifted both by the vast sweep of our history, and the bright possibilities of its future.
A great nation with an extraordinary potential to be even greater.
And that is a story we will write together.