Workforce Council

National Close The Gap Day

Thursday 24 March marks National Close the Gap Day with events taking place around Australia. 

National Close the Gap Day is a way for all Australians to join together and remind political leaders of their commitments to close the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation.

The focus of this year's event is on the need to build the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce.

Why Close the Gap?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are still dying 10 to 17 years younger than other Australians. That is why Australia needs more Indigenous doctors, nurses, health workers, dentists and allied health professionals if we are to achieve health equality by 2030.

What is Close the Gap?

The National Indigenous Reform Agreement is a national agreement which commits all jurisdictions to achieving the Closing the Gap targets. These targets are:

• To close the gap in life expectancy within a generation
• To ensure all Indigenous four-year olds in remote communities have access to early childhood education within five years
• To halve the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 equivalent attainment by 2020
• To halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade
• To halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five within a decade
• To halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous children within a decade

The agreement also outlines the building blocks to achieving the Close the Gap targets, the building blocks are early childhood, schooling, health, economic participation, healthy homes, safe communities and governance and leadership.

The Workforce Council works across a number of these target areas and has made a commitment to working to Close the Gap in the work that we do. We also encourage organisations and individuals across the Health and Community Services Industries to get involved in the Close the Gap Campaign. 

For more information on Close The Gap Day visit the Oxfam website or sign up to the newsletter.