I’m very pleased to let you know that today my first private member’s bill, the Public Sector (Closing the Gap) Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, passed the ACT Legislative Assembly with unanimous support.
This makes the ACT the first state or territory to legislate its commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. It does this by implementing two recommendations made by the Productivity Commission in its damning February 2024 review of progress under the National Agreement.
First, it defines implementation of the provisions of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap as core government business for all senior public servants. Second, it requires all government agencies to report annually on the steps they’ve actually taken to implement the National Agreement, and to do so in a format developed through consultation with the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body. You can learn more about how it works here.
The Assembly’s unanimous support for this bill shows our community wants to see real action from the ACT Government when it comes to improving life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans. This bill will help drive that action.
I’d like to give a huge shout-out to the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body and the broader First Nations community for their guidance in shaping this bill. I also want to thank Chief Minister Andrew Barr, Public Service Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, and their offices for working together with me and my office on amendments that reflected a consensus position on the bill’s final form, and to everyone who has advocated for and supported this reform along the way. That includes every member of my team, each of whom has worked hard on this from the moment the idea first emerged to try to get this bill through the Assembly.
The work certainly doesn’t stop here; my next priority will be to ensure the ACT Public Service’s implementation framework for this legislation is shaped by local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, and that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body is sufficiently resourced to ensure the reporting and accountability mechanisms we’ve legislated today meet community expectations.
Stay tuned.
Thank you for your support,
Tom