Ahead of the Albanese Government’s annual Closing the Gap report, Senator Lidia Thorpe has warned that the framework requires urgent structural reform if it is to be effective.

She has reiterated her call for a system of financial penalties and incentives to be embedded within the agreement to ensure states and territories comply with targets, particularly those relating to incarceration and child removal – targets that are trending backwards.

The Minister for Indigenous Australians has previously signalled that financial penalties are being considered. Thorpe is now urging her to follow through. 

Over the past year, both the Queensland and Northern Territory Attorneys-General have publicly signalled that Closing the Gap commitments would not take precedence over punitive justice measures in their jurisdictions.

Senator Thorpe says without consequences for non-compliance, the agreement is functioning merely as a weak reporting framework rather than a real mechanism for justice.

In addition to structural reform of the agreement, Senator Thorpe has outlined key priorities for Commonwealth action:

• As mentioned, a formalised framework of financial penalties and incentives for states and territories that breach Closing the Gap targets, particularly where new legislation increases the criminalisation and incarceration of First Peoples.

• Immediate implementation of the National Anti-Racism Framework, recognising racism as a structural driver of criminalisation, child removal and suicide.

• A national oversight body to monitor and drive the implementation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the Bringing Them Home report – potentially within the Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, with dedicated funding and strengthened statutory powers.

• An urgent National Cabinet meeting on deaths in custody, youth incarceration and child removals.

• Legislated national minimum standards for prisons and youth justice, aligned with UNDRIP, OPCAT, CPRD, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other relevant international human rights instruments. These standards would include the removal of hanging points; banning spit hoods, solitary confinement, and shackling during childbirth and end-of-life care; and preventing children being jailed in police watch houses. The constitutional external affairs power allows the Commonwealth to legislate such standards.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

“Closing the Gap is a failure. Without enforceable accountability, it has become little more than a reporting exercise, documenting state violence while our children are stolen and our people are caged and killed in custody at rising rates.

If the Minister for Indigenous Australians is serious about justice, the federal government must implement financial penalties on states and territories that harm First Peoples. The Minister has signalled she is considering it. Now is the time to act.

We’ve recently seen states and territories proudly shirk their commitments and boast about how many of our people they are locking up. 

The Albanese Government must pull them into line and stop this state violence. Along with funding penalties, the federal government can use its constitutional external affairs power to legislate minimum standards to override states. Yet Albanese continues to sit back while our people die.

This year, we’ve seen the highest number of Aboriginal deaths in custody since records began in 1979. This is a national crisis driven by rogue states and territories aggressively incarcerating First Peoples at rising rates.

The framework must be restructured so that states and territories cannot ignore their obligations, and face real consequences when they do.

Racism drives the harm our communities face, from child removals, to suicide and the criminalisation of our people. 

Research shows that everyday racism accounts for nearly half of the mental health gap between First Peoples and non-Indigenous people. 

Rising racism in schools is driving psychological harm, school refusals, and environments where First Nations children are disproportionately expelled and suspended. This dramatically increases their risk of child removal, criminalisation, and suicide.

The National Anti-Racism Framework, which has been gathering dust for over a year, must be implemented immediately to address this structural driver of harm. The bombing attack at the Boorloo Invasion Day rally should be a wake-up call about where racism is taking this country.

Tomorrow is a test for the Albanese government. Will it be more crumbs on the table that do nothing to reverse the harm being perpetrated against First Peoples, or will the government finally show a real commitment to change?

If Albanese won’t use his powers to stop states and territories killing our people and stealing our children, then he is part of the problem.”