Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma laid out the challenge in a historic 2005 Social Justice Report, which showed the shameful 17-year gap between the life expectancy and health conditions of First Nations people and that of the rest of the population. The First Nations infant mortality rate was three times higher.

“It is not credible to suggest that one of the wealthiest nations in the world cannot solve a health crisis affecting less than 3% of its citizens,” Calma said. This was not just a health problem but a human rights failure, Calma noted.

Calma’s report recommended that “the governments of Australia commit to achieving equality of health status and life expectation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous people within 25 years”.

That deadline is just five years away.

Multiple government agreements have been made to “close the gap”, the latest being the 2020 National Agreement on Closing the Gap but the 2025 Closing the Gap report reveals that most measures will not be reached by 2030.

Only four of the 19 “Priority Reforms” are on track to meet the target and four are moving backwards. The rest are progressing, but not on track.

When Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tabled the report in parliament on February 12, he denied this was a failure: “Failure is a word for those who have stopped trying — or given up listening. I make this clear today: I am not contemplating failure.”

The four widening gaps........

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