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CAN THE ACT BE FIRST TO CLOSE THE GAP?

More than two years after the ACT voted ‘Yes’ in the Voice to Parliament referendum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our community continue to experience entrenched disadvantage.

Multiple reviews have called for increased accountability in delivering on our Closing the Gap commitments. It’s time for the ACT Government to answer those calls.

I believe we can be the first state or territory to actually close the gap in life outcomes for First Nations people, and my nation-leading Closing the Gap legislation, which passed the ACT Legislative Assembly in December 2025, can help us get there.

BUSINESS AS USUAL IS NOT WORKING

In 2020, the ACT Government signed the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, committing to work toward equal outcomes for First Nations people. Our country is on track to meet just 4 of the 19 Closing the Gap targets.

The 2024 Productivity Commission review and 2025 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led review of progress under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap both found that ‘business as usual’ is not working. This is borne out in the statistics, which show the gap remains wide here in the ACT.

The reviews called for greater accountability, with a focus on bringing about systemic change in how governments work with and for First Nations people.

In consultation with our local First Nations community, I've prepared a Private Member’s Bill to make the ACT the first state or territory to turn its Closing the Gap obligations into law.

My Closing the Gap Bill:

  1. Requires all senior government officials to play their part in implementing the provisions of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap in their work, including by driving systemic change within their agencies; and
  2. Requires all government agencies to report annually on the concrete steps they’ve taken to follow through on their Closing the Gap commitments, and to do so in a format shaped by our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body.

WHAT'S NEXT?

I tabled the Public Sector (Closing the Gap) Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 in the ACT Legislative Assembly on 26 June 2025, and it was passed with minor amendments on 2 December 2025.

My next priority will be to ensure the ACT Public Service’s implementation framework for this legislation delivers on its aims and is shaped by local First Nations voices, and that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body is sufficiently resourced to ensure the reporting and accountability mechanisms we’ve legislated are translated into real action on the ground.