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Who we are

Australia's peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous health bodies, health professional bodies and human rights organisations operate the Close the Gap Campaign. The Campaign's goal is to raise the health and life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to that of the non-Indigenous population within a generation: to close the gap by 2030. It aims to do this through the implementation of a human rights-based approach set out in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner's Social Justice Report 2005.[146]

The Campaign Steering Committee first met in March 2006. Our patrons, Catherine Freeman OAM and lan Thorpe OAM, launched the campaign in April 2007. To date, almost 200,000 Australians have formally pledged their support.[147]

Australian Government and Opposition party representatives, including the then Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, signed the Close the Gap Campaign’s Close the Gap Statement of Intent in March 2008 at the Campaign's National Indigenous Health Equality Summit. Successive Prime Ministers, Opposition Leaders, and Greens Party leaders have indicated their continuing support. The Close the Gap Statement of Intent was subsequently signed by the Governments and Opposition Parties of Victoria in March 2008; Queensland in April 2008, Western Australia in April 2009; the Australian Capital Territory in April 2010, New South Wales in June 2010; and South Australia in November 2010.

As acknowledged in the NIRA, ‘the [COAG] Closing the Gap Agenda was developed in response to concerns raised with governments by Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons, including through the Close the Gap Campaign and the National Indigenous Health Equality Summit’.[148] As such, the Campaign has provided significant impetus for the Council of Australian Governments:

  • Setting six ‘Closing the Gap’ Targets, including to achieve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy equality within a generation, and to halve the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander under-fives mortality rate gap within a decade; and
  • Agreeing, by November 2008, the 'Closing the Gap' national partnership agreements. These have brought with them approximately five billion dollars in additional resources, including the $1.57 billion attached to the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes that expired in June 2013; and the $564 million attached to the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Early Childhood Development that expires in June 2014.

The Close the Gap Campaign is a growing national movement:

  • Every year since 2010 the National Rugby League has dedicated a round of matches to Close the Gap. The Close the Gap rounds are broadcast to between 2.5 and 3.5 million Australians each year.
  • In 2007 the first National Close the Gap Day was held. It involved five large State events and more than 300 community events. National Close the Gap Day has become an annual event since 2009. Australians across every state and territory participate in this event. Health services, schools, businesses, hospitals, government departments, ambulance services, non-government organisations and others hold events to raise awareness and show support for the Campaign and its goals. Reflecting the importance of the Campaign to nation, it has become the largest and highest profile Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health event in the country. Nine hundred and seventy-two community events involving 140,000 Australians were held on National Close the Gap Day in 2013.

The current members of the Close the Gap Campaign Steering Committee are:

Co-chairs

  • Ms Kirstie Parker, Co-chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
  • Mr Mick Gooda, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission

Members

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation
  • Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association
  • Australian Indigenous Psychologists' Association
  • Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives
  • Indigenous Allied Health Australia
  • Indigenous Dentists' Association of Australia
  • National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
  • National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers' Association
  • National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Physiotherapists
  • National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
  • National Coordinator — Tackling Indigenous Smoking (Dr Tom Calma AO - Campaign founder and former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner)
  • National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee
  • The Lowitja Institute
  • Torres Strait Island Regional Authority
  • Australian College of Nursing
  • Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council
  • Australian Human Rights Commission (Secretariat)
  • Australian Medical Association
  • Australian Medicare Local Alliance
  • Australian Physiotherapy Association
  • ANTaR
  • Beyondblue
  • The Fred Hollows Foundation
  • Heart Foundation Australia
  • Menzies School of Health Research
  • Oxfam Australia
  • Palliative Care Australia
  • PHILE Network
  • Public Health Association of Australia
  • The Pharmacy Guild of Australia
  • Royal Australasian College of Physicians
  • Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
  • Professor Ian Ring (expert adviser)

[146] See above note 10.
[147] See above note 1.
[148] National Indigenous Reform Agreement, Council of Australian Governments, p A-16. URL: http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/health_indigenous/indigenous-reform/national-agreement_sept_12.pdf (Accessed 14 January 2014).
[149] As above.