Closing the Gap progress 'stalled' since Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum
The Closing the Gap campaign has stalled since the Indigenous voice referendum says Megan Davis, a key architect of the 2023 initiative.
The Albanese government has been accused of stalling progress on Closing the Gap since the failed Indigenous voice referendum by passing the buck to states and territories.
Constitutional lawyer Megan Davis, of the University of NSW, was a key architect of the 2023 voice proposal and its aim of improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Ahead of the referendum’s third anniversary on Wednesday, Prof Davis said the gap wasn’t closing and much of that was down to governments and bureaucrats not doing their part.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Closing the Gap features 19 socio-economic targets from life expectancy to youth detention monitored by the Productivity Commission to improve First Nations outcomes.
The Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum was held on October 14, 2023 and was defeated with 60 per cent voting ‘no’ and 40 per cent voting ‘yes’.
Australians had voted on a proposal “to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice”.
If the ‘yes’ vote had won, a permanent First Nations advisory body to the federal parliament would have been created.
The referendum result was a key victory for then-opposition leader Peter Dutton, who led the charge against the voice along with Aboriginal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
It was a major political defeat for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who championed it.
The referendum result boosted Mr Dutton’s political prospects but he went on to suffer a crushing defeat at the May 2025 election.
Prof Davis said the situation for Indigenous people had gotten worse since the referendum.
“People are too scared to talk up for fear of losing funding, and the federal government passes the buck to the states and territories,” she told AAP.
“It is evident from the Productivity Commission report this year that Closing the Gap has stalled.”
The federal government was not executing its constitutional responsibility to uphold international human rights obligations to Indigenous children and young people, and the United Nations had called them out on that, she said.
Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy defended the federal government on its measures to address First Nations disadvantage.
“While the referendum was a difficult and painful time for many First Nations people, the Albanese Labor government remains focused on where we can make the greatest difference to make generational change,” she said.
Investing in community-led programs had delivered thousands of jobs, built hundreds of homes and boosted health, educational and justice services to achieve gap targets, the senator said.
The push for a voice was an “ill-starred campaign”, Aboriginal rights advocate and lawyer Noel Pearson told the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land in August.
“What right has anyone to offer a vision that turns out to be a mirage?,” he said.
The future of Indigenous people in Australia was not assured, Mr Pearson said.
But new leadership was coming through, “driven by our young women”.
“They only have a fraction of the power they will need to sustain a generational change in the prospects of our people,” Mr Pearson said.
“Though people can never forget, they can forgive and it is never too late for reconciliation.”
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