2017-03-16
The Greens have welcomed today's Close the Gap Progress and Priorities report.
Senator Rachel Siewert is calling on the Government to Close the Gap on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander hearing health, saying hearing health is essential if we're are going to close the gap.
“For years the Government has known that unaddressed hearing loss and impairment in Aboriginal communities worsens life outcomes and entrenches disadvantage, yet successive governments have failed to act.
“There is a strong link between Aboriginal peoples' hearing loss and impairment and the justice system. Children with a hearing impairment can end up alienated and isolated at school, which undermines their education.
“We urgently need a comprehensive strategy to resolve this avoidable problem that is having such severe implications.
“I welcome the recommendations of the 2017 Close the Gap report, which calls for new engagement with our First Peoples and the Redfern Statement, as well as a reset to the national approach to health inequality.
“We are a developed nation with third world health outcomes for our First Peoples. It is time the Government stopped sitting on its hands because we are not going to close the gap at this rate”.