Analyzing the Closing the Gap: Australia's Social Policy Assessment

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Australia's Closing the Gap social policy, examining the issues that led to its creation, including high child mortality rates among indigenous Australians, low school attendance, and disparities in life expectancy. It identifies key drivers such as substance abuse, tobacco use, poor health infrastructure, and inadequate housing. The policy's values, beliefs, and assumptions are explored, emphasizing social justice, community-based programs, and local indigenous leadership. An evaluation of the policy highlights strengths in employment outcomes but weaknesses in improving mortality rates and school attendance. The essay concludes by noting the lack of genuine partnerships and cohesive approaches, suggesting areas for improvement in addressing the disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Desklib offers this essay and other resources for students.

Running head: CLOSING THE GAP SOCIAL POLICY
Closing the Gap Social Policy
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Issues, issue driver and values of Closing the Gap social policy
There were various kinds of issues that created the way for the emergence of Closing
the Gap social policy within Australia. Child mortality rate was high among the indigenous
Australians that led to the birth of the social policy within Australia. It was found that the
indigenous children who were four year old did not enrol themselves in that of early
childhood education that gave rise to the policy. It has been found that since that of target
baseline that was set in the year 2008 the child mortality rate of the indigenous population
have undergone decline by that of 10 %. It was found that twice number of that of low birth
weight babies were born to that of the indigenous women as compared to that of the non-
indigenous women (Smith, Crawford and Signal 2016). It hence points out to the fact that
closing the element of the life expectancy that is to be achieved by the end of the year 2031 is
not working along the right lines (Pmc.gov.au 2019). The school attendance rate of the
indigenous children have not undergone any kind of improvement which gave birth to that of
Closing the Gap social policy of Australia. It has been found that attendance rate of the
indigenous students have not been able to improve in between the years 2014 and that of
2018. The life expectancy of the indigenous children at birth was low when compared to that
of the non-indigenous children that increased the necessity of the social policy within
Australia.
The key issue that increased the need of the policy was that the indigenous
Australians were left at a disadvantage and hence some kind of the policy had to be
discovered (Hunter and Yap 2018). The social policy was aimed at building the strength
along with resilience of the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander people. It can help in
bringing about change in the society that can pave the path for the improved outcomes with
the Aboriginal families along with the communities. It was aimed at improving the
educational achievement along with the employment outcome of the indigenous Australians

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(Carson and Kerr 2017). There are disturbing indicators that point out the fact that there exist
health crisis pertaining to the indigenous population. The indigenous Australians had been
suffering from the high rate of the chronic diseases like the renal failure along with cardio-
vascular diseases. The policy wants to reduce the gap in relation to the employment that is to
achieved by the year 2018 but that is not working in the right direction.
The main driver that gave birth to policy was that there was increased prevalence of
that of the substance abuse along with the alcohol that gave birth to that of Closing the Gap
social policy in Australia. Issue driver of Closing the Gap policy was the increased use of the
tobacco among that of the indigenous population of Australia. Health status of the indigenous
people of Australia was worsening and this caused the birth of that of Closing the Gap social
policy of Australia. The issue driver was that there was gap pertaining to health infrastructure
that was deteriorating the health of the indigenous Australians (Abc.net.au 2019). The
housing of the indigenous people in Australia was causing them to suffer from various kinds
of illness. They had to live in the dismal condition that acted as driver of that of Closing the
Gap social policy of Australia. It was found that 5.5 % of that of the indigenous households
had been living in the overcrowded conditions that gave birth to that of Closing the Gap
social policy of Australia. There were various kinds of social factors like income along with
education that were the driver of that of social policy in Australia. The indigenous
Australians had been reeling under poverty and this led to that of Closing the Gap social
policy within Australia. The gap was widening in between the indigenous and the non-
indigenous population of Australia and this increased need of the birth of that of Closing the
Gap social policy. The health infrastructure was dismal among the indigenous Australians
that increased the need of some kind of social policy in Australia.
There were various kinds of values, beliefs along with the assumptions pertaining to
Closing the Gap policy in Australia. The value in relation to the policy was that it can help in

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ensuring the social justice for the indigenous Australians. The value in relation to the policy
existed in the fact that it can be instrumental in improving lives of the Aboriginal along with
the Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. Value of this policy was that it can provide the
forum that can help in the effective engagement of the indigenous Australians. The
partnership being formed on the basis of the mutual respect can help in the inclusion of the
indigenous Australians within the mainstream society (Healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au 2019). The
value was laid on the policy owing to the fact that it can help in promoting the culture along
with the language in relation to the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander peoples. The
formal partnership in between Commonwealth, state along with the territory government can
improve the conditions of living of that of the indigenous Australians.
There were various kinds of beliefs that paved the path for creation of Closing the
Gap policy within Australia. The belief was that real change can be brought about in the
society with the help of the community-based programs that can benefit indigenous
population of Australia. It can help Aboriginal people in leading a healthy and a prosperous
life. The general belief pertaining to social policy was that it can help the Aboriginal people
in leading a secured existence (Baker et al. 2018). The belief was that it can support the
cultural identity of the indigenous Australians that can bring about changes in their standard
of living. There were various kinds of assumptions pertaining to that of Closing the Gap
policy of Australia. The basic assumption was that it can help in fostering that of local
indigenous leadership that can help in achieving the better outcome for the indigenous
population of Australia. It can help in the delivery of the programs along with the services in
an efficient manner that can uplift the living conditions of that of the indigenous Australians
(Howitt and McLean 2015). The assumption was that the providing of the professional
opportunities can help in ensuring the cultural richness of indigenous population of Australia.
Evaluation of Closing the Gap 2019

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The Australian government can work with the various agencies that can serve the
cause of the social policy within Australia. The evaluation of the policy has brought out the
fact that halving gap in relation to the child mortality rate is not undergoing any kind of
progress that suggests that more actions have to be taken that can help in ensuring the aspect
of the child mortality. The results have pointed out that there exists high degree of the
volatility in relation to Indigenous child mortality rate that can make it difficult in
ascertaining a trend. The child mortality rate of the indigenous children vary from one year to
that of another that contributes to make the situation volatile (Baker et al. 2018). The
volatility has an effect on yearly status of target and caution should be exercised in the
interpretation of meaning to that of the annual variation. The 2017 report has pointed out the
fact that the pre-term babies are at a higher risk of that of the long-term health outcome and
due care should be taken care of them that can help in ensure the health of the new-born
children. The policy suggests that improvements should be brought about in the indigenous
maternal health along with the child birth outcome that can play an important role in
protecting the indigenous children of Australia (Vijayasingham 2017). The strength of policy
resides in the fact that it has succeeded in the arena of employing the indigenous Australians.
Strength in relation to the policy lies in the fact that it has been able to lay the focus
on the element of the employment that has helped in bringing about desired outcome in
relation to the government along with the communities. Concrete measures should be taken
that can help in improving the employment rate of Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander
people. The social policy talks about the importance of Community Development
Employment Project (CDEP) that can serve the cause of the indigenous people living in
Australia (Saunders 2015). The policy lays stress on the aspect of the future employment
growth by laying stress on the element of automation that can help them in getting
employment in the society. The value of this policy was in the fact that it can help in bridging

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the gap in between the indigenous and that of the non-indigenous Australians that can help in
improving the condition of life of that of the indigenous Australians. The strength of policy
emerges owing to the fact that it has helped the indigenous Australians in getting social
justice. The weakness of the policy reside in the fact that it has not been successful in
improving the mortality rate of the indigenous Australians. The living conditions of the
indigenous families have not improved that talks about the drawbacks of the social policy.
There does not exist any kind of genuine partnerships that can help in driving the sustainable
and the systematic change among the indigenous people (Fisher et al. 2016). The weakness of
the approach is manifested in the fact that it can it has not been able to bring about
improvements in the school attendance of the children. This suggests the futility of the
Closing the Gap social policy. Policy has not succeeded in halving gap in relation to reading
along with the numeracy that suggests the dearth of the basic education among the Aboriginal
and the Torres Strait Islander people (Brown et al. 2015). The weakness of the policy is that
there does not exist any kind of cohesive approach that can ensure the success of the policy in
Australia.

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References
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