On National Close the Gap Day, Labor joins the Close the Gap Campaign to celebrate the work of First Nations People and their communities  to close the gap on life expectancy and other health outcomes.

For more than ten years the Closing the Gap Campaign has put an important spotlight on the vast health, disparities between First Nations peoples and the Australian population at large.

The Campaign has successfully influenced positive national policy outcomes, in which the Labor party is proud to have been part of.

Labor is committed to ensuring Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations have the primary role in delivering culturally appropriate and regionally specific Primary Health Care Services to for First Australians.

This year’s report highlights “our health, our voice and our choice,” reaffirming that when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to be involved in the design of the services they need, they are successful. Labor is committed to working with First Nations people in order to successfully bridge the gap in life expectancy between First Nations people and all other Australians.

Labor is committed to ensuring First Nations people have ownership in the matters that affect them. 

If elected, a Shorten Labor Government will move quickly to agree on a process with First Nations people to make the Voice a reality – including a pathway to a referendum. Labor supports a Voice. We support enshrining it in the Constitution. This is our first priority for Constitutional change.

First Nations peoples must have a say in the matters that affect their lives and policies must be co-designed with full free and prior informed consent. 

This is how we close the gap.