Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Well-Being: Analysis of Healthcare Inequalities and Initiatives

Running head: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING
1
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people’s well-being
Name:
Institution:
Tutor:
Date:

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING
2
Introduction
Closing the Gap is a government initiative to reduce inequalities in healthcare In
Australia.In this particular case study, Closing the gap funding has facilitated Matts mother to
travel between Townsville and Brisbane. Furthermore, it has catered for her accommodation and
food expenses at a local aboriginal hostel. However, one of my colleagues feel that indigenous
people are treated better than other Australians. Similarly, the AHRC 2018 report further
critiques the Australian government over its preferences. Within the framework of this essay,
there will be an analysis of different concepts in regards to indigenous healthcare.
Discussion
Differences between the ‘Close the Gap’ campaign, and the ‘Closing the Gap’
Australian governments’ policy framework
Close the gap campaign
With several studies noting enormous disparities in the health between indigenous and
non-indigenous Australians, there was the need to come up with initiatives to curb this ever
growing inequality. Close the gap is therefore an initiative by the both Indigenous and non-
indigenous health bodies ,NGOs and human rights organizations to work together to so as to
attain equality and life expectancy for the indigenous Australians (Ring, Dixon, Lovett, & Al-
Yaman, 2016). It was set up back in 2007 and it has realistic and attainable targets. It is expected
that by 2030, all the targets should have been achieved. With the recent report of 2018 however,
the target is not on course and there is the need to review the targets.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING
3
‘Closing the Gap Australian Government’s’ policy frameworks
In response to the inequality of healthcare between indigenous and non-indigenous
Australians, the government also came up with its own strategy. The strategy was to be named
‘Closing the Gap Australian Government’s policy frameworks (Duke, Kado, Auto, Amini, &
Gilbert, 2015). The government has different targets such as the close the gap in life expectancy
by 2031, halve the gap of employment, child mortality, reading, writing and numeracy by 2018,
ensure that 95% of indigenous children above 4 years are enrolled in ECD by 2025 and finally
halve the gap in year 12 attainment by the year 2020 (Sibthorpe, Gardner, & McAullay, 2016).
So, the basic difference between the two campaigns is that while close the gap initiative is run by
different stakeholders, closing the Gap is an initiative by the Australian government. However,
both the initiatives are similar in that they have the similar objective (McDonald, 2011). The
objective is to achieve equality in healthcare among the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait
islander people.
The AHRC Close the Gap 2018 report and the ‘funding myth about Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander health.
Often, after coming up with a certain initiative, it is necessary to provide a review to
evaluate or determine if the program is on course or not (Wendt, 2017). The AHRC Close the
Gap 2018 report is one such report. The aim of the report was to review the progress of the Close
Gap campaign ten years later since its inception back in 2008.
The review had different findings. One of the major finding was the funding ‘myth about
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health’. Often, the success of any initiative is determined
by the outlay of necessary resources (Reath & O'Mara, 2018). Resources in this case refers to