Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 42:33 to 47:12
The department outlines its new strategic framework for embedding Closing the Gap priorities across its operations and provides updates on socioeconomic outcome targets.
Topics: Closing the Gap, First Nations
Speakers: Cris Castro, Simon Duggan, Speaker 9
Good morning, morning, Secretary. I was just wondering if I could ask you just about the department's work on closing the gap. As you know, it's uh always a topic that this committee does like to discuss. Um can you share with us any updates that you have for the department and progressing the priority reforms and any outcomes that you are seeing?
Very good. Uh Senator I'll start and then I'll I'll hand to my colleague to provide more details. So I mean the department, as you know, Senator plays a very significant role in closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage. A new development is that we're um in the past six months we have articulated a new strategic framework for the department. And within that strategic framework, we identify embedding closing the gap as being a core cross-cutting priority. So it's important for all of the work of the department, not just some of the work of the department. I mean, as you'd be aware, we administer policies and programs that directly impact four of the 17 socioeconomic outcome areas. Um at the Commonwealth level, we share responsibility with the Department of Education for uh outcome five.
Sorry, Secretary. Um, could I we just get a little bit more volume if that's okay, guys? I'm just struggling to hear a little bit. Thank you. No, that's that's just me, not you. Yeah, sorry. Yeah.
So we share um we share responsibility with the Department of Education for outcome five around student learning potential, outcome six for further education pathways and outcome seven around youth engagement, employment or education. And we also share outcome eight on strong economic participation and development of people and communities with the National Indigenous Australians Agency. We are making progress against each of those outcome areas. So uh target eight, so around strong economic participation development of people and communities is on track to be met by 2031. Targets five, six, and seven are improving, but at this stage not on track. But I'll turn to Mr. Castro to see if there's anything you wanted to add.
Thank you. Chris Castro, Assistant Secretary Closing the Gap. So our department's implementation of the priority reforms really starts with priority reform three, the internal transformation. So in the past few years, we've done a number of things to improve the governance and accountability around closing the gap within the department. So one of the first things that we did under the previous secretary was establish a central closing the gap function to oversee and drive our closing the gap efforts. Shortly after that, we developed a closing the gap strategy that really gave authority for the rest of the department to understand the closing the gap priority reforms and make those changes. And that quickly resulted in some big change for the department. So our governance framework for the department was modified to ensure that everybody in the department uh took accountability for closing the gap. Uh, and that our internal governance forums have First Nations voices uh on them as well. Uh so that was a clear transformation. Uh we shortly after that uh also changed our internal uh audit framework to make sure that every internal audit that's conducted considers whether our business units are considering the department's commitments to First Nations people. So they're really key transformation transformational pieces, um, which were soon followed by a launch of a department or reconciliation action plan, which sort of lays the foundation for developing those foundation skills to build better relationships with First Nations people, uh, which is really uh important for the way that we engage, consult and listen to to people. And those internal transformations are starting to have uh a demonstrable effect on our external facing policies and programs. Uh we've seen in employment services probably starting with the Parents Pathways program, um, a lot of engagement with First Nations people uh that effectively resulted in First Nations providers delivering services uh on our behalf to all parents under that program. Uh we've seen um growth in the ACO sector, uh Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled sector um through programs like the the C First Nations grant, uh, which deliberately recognised that First Nations people have a different experience and we wanted to get communities involved to make sure that the projects we're delivering were meeting their needs as well. Um I can keep going if you'd like.
Yeah, very interested. Um also, Secretary, just those ones that the targets that weren't on track, just like how we're working to um to if we can. Yeah, please continue, Mr. Castro, please go.