NACCHO CEO calls for urgent action to address worsening Closing the Gap targets

NACCHO CEO Pat Turner delivered a powerful address to the Select Committee on Measuring Outcomes for First Nations Communities yesterday, calling for “immediate and meaningful government action to reverse the worsening Closing the Gap targets,” including those centred around early childhood education and care (ECEC).

NACCHO represents 146 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), operating over 550 clinics nationwide. ACCHOs provide culturally safe, trauma-informed, and holistic healthcare services that improve the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Ms Turner emphasised that the increasing regression of key socioeconomic outcome targets, including early childhood development, incarceration rates, out-of-home care, and suicide, is unacceptable and requires an urgent, coordinated response.

“The fact that these targets are going backwards is deeply concerning,” she said. 

“Poor progress in one area compounds poor outcomes in another. We cannot continue to allow our children and young people to be failed by systems that refuse to change.”

“The solution to progressing these targets lies with our ACCHOs and other community- controlled organisations. The evidence is clear – community-led solutions work. Our model of care delivers better health outcomes, higher treatment adherence rates, and greater cost-effectiveness than mainstream services. Yet, ACCHOs continue to be underfunded while facing a greater burden of disease.”

The Need for Government Commitment and Action

Ms. Turner highlighted that the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, signed by all levels of government, is not being implemented in good faith by state and territory governments.

“The time for tinkering at the edges is over. We need urgent implementation of the Priority Reforms and the establishment of independent mechanisms to ensure government accountability,” she stated.

NACCHO’s Call to Action

NACCHO urges all levels of government to:

• Implement the Priority Reforms under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap to drive real change.

• Ensure greater accountability through independent mechanisms and Closing the Gap reporting in government agency annual reports.

• Fully fund ACCHOs to deliver the necessary health services that have been proven to work.

• Strengthen partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to improve outcomes across health, education, justice, and wellbeing.

“We know what works, and we have proven it time and time again. If governments are serious about Closing the Gap, they need to fund and empower community-controlled solutions. Our people’s lives depend on it,” Ms. Turner concluded.