Two former Chief Ministers are among 38 signatories on an open letter calling for the ACT Legislative Assembly to support Thomas Emerson MLA’s Closing the Gap Bill.

Local community leaders have joined the Independent Member for Kurrajong in calling for the Chief Minister and all other Members of the ACT Legislative Assembly to support Mr Emerson’s Public Sector (Closing the Gap) Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. Doing so would make the ACT the first state or territory to require, by law, all government officials to implement the principles of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap in their work. 

The open letter is signed by current and former Members of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, former ACT Chief Ministers Jon Stanhope and Gary Humphries, respected First Nations community leaders, CEOs of local Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations, and ACT Senator David Pocock. Natalie Brown, Chair of the Our Booris, Our Way Implementation Oversight Committee, has also lodged a petition calling for the Assembly to support the bill, which is due to be debated later this year.

Mr Emerson said his bill reflects recommendations from the Productivity Commission’s February 2024 review of the National Agreement, the June 2025 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led review, and the Jumbunna Institute’s review into the over-representation of First Nations people in the ACT criminal justice system released last Wednesday. The latest annual Closing the Gap data report, also released last week, shows Australia is on track to meet just four of its 19 Closing the Gap targets. 

“We’ve been talking about Closing the Gap for 20 years,” Mr Emerson said.

”Five years have passed since the ACT Government signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Damning reviews have criticised governments across the country for failing to carry out the systemic reforms promised under that agreement. 

“How many reviews have to say the same thing before we see real change? We need the entire ACT Government to step up to its Closing the Gap commitments, which is what this bill will bring about.”

Mr Emerson said the open letter showed the immense support across the ACT for First Nations justice. 

“Canberrans want real action on the marginalisation of First Nations people in our community,” Mr Emerson said.

“We know a disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans are trapped in brutal cycles of disadvantage, trauma, and poverty. 

”Two years after the ACT stood alone as the only state or territory to say ‘Yes’ to an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, it’s time to bring about the long-overdue systemic changes our First Nations community has been calling for.

“We can make the ACT the first jurisdiction in Australia to achieve equal life outcomes for First Nations people, but we all need to play our part to make that happen.”

The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body has issued a statement supporting the bill.

“The ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body supports the introduction of this bill, which goes to the heart of implementing the National Closing the Gap Targets,” the statement said.

“We recognise the ongoing call from the Coalition of Peaks for practical and structural reforms that deliver real change in how governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and community-controlled organisations.

“This bill represents a step in the right direction. It provides a framework that places greater accountability on senior public servants to demonstrate the effectiveness of programs and policies developed for, and on behalf of, our people.

“Our community deserves transparency, culturally safe decision-making, and programs that are driven by our voices and measured by our priorities. This bill helps set that expectation in law.”

Learn more about the Closing the Gap Bill here. 

Find the open letter here.

Sign the petition here (ACT residents only).

About the Bill:

The Public Sector (Closing the Gap) Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 amends the Public Sector Management Act 1994, which regulates the administration of the ACT’s public sector, by requiring all public servants to uphold a new ‘closing the gap principle’ alongside the existing ‘best practice principle’. The ‘closing the gap principle’ would require government officials to implement the principles of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap in their work, including by demonstrating cultural capability, promoting cultural safety and addressing institutional racism in their workplace. It also amends the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004 by requiring all government agencies to report annually on the measures they’ve taken to implement the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, including in response to recommendations from the Productivity Commission and Aboriginal-led reviews of the National Agreement, and to do so in a format agreed to by the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.