Australia struggles to bring equality to its indigenous population

By The Data Team

THE massive gulf in living standards between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians has long been one of the country’s great shames. After much pressure from activists, governments have channelled increasing amounts of money and political will in an effort to “close the gap”. But a new report released on February 10th acts as a depressing record of the past eight years of policymaking, and an indication of how little progress has been made. It provides an update on the seven pledges made in 2008 by the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) to reduce racial inequality. Just two targets are on track to be met: the commitment to halve the gap between the indigenous and non-indigenous mortality rate of children under five (which started from an appalling baseline), and the aim to increase the number of indigenous students completing high school.