CANBERRA, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australian targets to reduce the disadvantages faced by the country's Indigenous population are mostly not on track, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.
The prime minister on Monday delivered the annual Closing the Gap statement to parliament, declaring that addressing Indigenous disadvantage would help Australia achieve its "true potential" as a nation.
The Closing the Gap strategy was established in 2008, and overhauled in 2019, to reduce the disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians in key health, education and economic outcomes.
Albanese said on Monday that progress on 11 of the 19 targets has improved since 2024, but only five targets are on track.
Addressing parliament, Albanese acknowledged that there is "so much more to do".
"When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people advance, the entire nation moves forward," he said.
"To Close the Gap would ultimately erase the gulf that lies between us and our true potential as a nation."
He said that Indigenous women are 33 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be hospitalized and seven times more likely to die as a result of family violence.
In response to the new data, Albanese announced that the government will cap the prices of essential groceries in rural Indigenous communities.
Additionally, he said that scholarships will be made available for up to 150 Indigenous psychology students to increase the availability of culturally-safe mental health support and that the government will increase opportunities for Indigenous Australians to buy their first homes.
Peter Dutton, the leader of the opposition Liberal Party, told parliament that Australians want to see better outcomes and practical solutions that make a "tangible difference" to the lives of disadvantaged Indigenous Australians.
Data on progress on all 19 targets will be published by the government in March. ■
