Boost to Indigenous health clinics in bid to close gap
Non-Indigenous health services will be improved across the country, with the prime minister promising that failure to address inequality with non-Indigenous Australians will not be an option.
Anthony Albanese will use his annual deficit speech on Thursday to announce a $144 million boost to Indigenous health to improve more than 100 services in cities and regional areas.
The Prime Minister will argue that addressing health outcomes is critical to improving the multiple outcomes of closing gaps.
“Many of these clinics haven’t seen a dollar of new investment in decades,” he will say.
“All levels of government will work together to see that this funding delivers a change in outcomes.”
Mr Albanese will also announce plans to reduce prices of essential goods at all remote markets in Indigenous communities following a successful trial.
Prices of 30 products such as flour, cereal and toothpaste will be in line with the prices in 225 stores in the city
“We all know what it means to put healthy food on the table. It makes a difference for expectant mothers, for the health and growth of the child, and even for their ability to concentrate at school,” the Prime Minister will say.
Mr Albanese’s speech will reveal that four of the gap-closing outcomes are on track to be met, with a further six targets being developed.
“Based on progress to date, we expect confirmation that the target of 95 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children enrolled in nursery has been met later this year,” he said.
“There are four areas where progress has stalled or gone backwards. The most pressing of these is suicide. Suicide tears families apart, tears communities apart.”
The Prime Minister will also use the speech to warn against any pre-emptive declarations of failure to close the gap in results.
“Talking about failure ignores the aspirations and achievements of Indigenous Australians. It ignores the leaders and communities who are changing lives,” he says.
“Failure is a word for those who stop trying or stop listening.
“The challenges we face are important, complex and interconnected, with causes that go back generations. But that doesn’t make us weak; it makes every act of change powerful.”
The gap-closing talk comes after the government announced Tuesday the rollout of a 10-year plan to tackle domestic and family violence against Indigenous women and children.
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