Independent Member for Kurrajong Thomas Emerson MLA is today announcing he has secured support from ACT Labor to pass his Public Sector (Closing the Gap) Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 with minor amendments. The bill will be debated in the Assembly tomorrow afternoon.

Mr Emerson said the government amendments had been developed in close consultation with his office and the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, and would help ensure his bill achieved its objective of significantly increasing action and accountability in relation to the ACT Government’s Closing the Gap commitments.

“For too long, Closing the Gap initiatives have been treated like optional extras,” Mr Emerson said.

“This bill will transform our Closing the Gap commitments into core government business.

“We’ve been talking about Closing the Gap for 20 years, and I believe the ACT can be the first state or territory to actually do it. Yet two years after we stood alone in voting ‘Yes’ in the Voice to Parliament referendum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our community continue to experience significant entrenched disadvantage.

“We’re nowhere near on track to meet our targets nationally, and here in the ACT the gap has been widening in multiple critical areas including child developmental vulnerability, youth detention and adult incarceration.

“Systemic reform was promised five years ago when the ACT Government signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, but the work hasn’t been done to deliver on that promise.

“The passage of this bill will mobilise the public sector from the top down to start delivering on the Government’s Closing the Gap commitments.”

Mr Emerson thanked Minister for the Public Service Rachel Stephen-Smith MLA, Chief Minister Andrew Barr MLA, and their offices for their collaborative engagement on the bill.

“Minister Stephen-Smith has been great to work with on this bill, and I’ve appreciated her good-faith engagement to land an agreed position on its final form.”

Mr Emerson’s bill makes the ACT the first state or territory to legislate its commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap by embedding the provisions of the agreement in the laws that govern the responsibilities and reporting obligations of the public sector.

Media Contact

Will Devine | [email protected] | 0402 183 296

Background

Mr Emerson introduced the private member’s bill in June 2025. It gives effect to two key recommendations made by the Productivity Commission in its damning February 2024 review of progress under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

In August, 38 community leaders, including two former ACT Chief Ministers, signed an open letter calling for the bill to pass.

In October, an Assembly Committee recommended that the bill pass with three amendments: that only senior public servants and statutory office holders be bound by the new closing the gap principle, that the provisions in the bill commence on 1 July 2026 to allow time to prepare for its requirements, and that a post-implementation review be undertaken after commencement.

During the inquiry, the head of the ACT Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs disclosed that his current workplace was the least culturally safe workplace he had ever encountered. 

The government amendments to Mr Emerson’s bill give effect to the Committee’s recommendations, as well as making minor technical changes that clarify the nature of the obligations imposed on public servants and government agencies under the legislation.

The amended bill will insert into the Public Sector Management Act 1994 a new ‘closing the gap principle’ that all Senior Executive Service (SES) members and statutory office holders will be bound by. The principle requires them to:

1. Implement the provisions of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap that relate to transformation or governance of government agencies, including by:
   1. Continually developing and demonstrating their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural capability;
   2. Continually developing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural capability of their administrative unit;
   3. Promoting cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and
   4. Working to eliminate institutional racism in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
2. For other provisions of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap that relate to the individual’s job:
   1. Implement those provisions of the agreement; or
   2. Provide advice to their Minister about implementing those provisions of the agreement.

The bill also amends the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004, introducing clear reporting requirements in relation to progress under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. All public sector entities will be required to report annually on the measures they’ve taken to implement the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, including to implement the four priority reforms laid out in the agreement and to respond to any recommendations made in reviews of the agreement. The reporting format must be developed in consultation with the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.

The bill is set to be debated in the Assembly tomorrow (Tuesday 2 December 2025) at approximately 3pm.