Near the Gap and Closing the Gap – what’s the difference?

Shut the Gap

Shut the Gap is a public awareness campaign focused on closing the health gap. It’s run by quite a few NGOs, Indigenous well being bodies and human rights organisations, which includes the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). The campaign was formally launched in 2007, soon after the release of the social justice report by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner, Dr Tom Calma.

Shut the Gap gained assistance from state and federal governments when the Council of Australian Governments (Coag) set two overall health aims amid their 6 targets in 2008: attaining overall health equality inside of a generation and halving the gap in mortality charges for children underneath five within a decade.

In 2008 then prime minister Kevin Rudd and then opposition leader Brendan Nelson also signed the Shut the Gap statement of intent.

Closing the Gap

Closing the Gap is the name provided to Coag’s 2008 nationwide technique to tackle Indigenous inequality, which includes the Indigenous Reform Agreement, a commitment to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians inside of a certain timeframe, with six crucial targets.

• To shut the daily life-expectancy gap inside a generation


• To halve the gap in mortality prices for Indigenous children below 5 inside a decade


• To make sure accessibility to early childhood training for all Indigenous 4-year-olds in remote communities within 5 years


• To halve the gap in reading, creating and numeracy achievements for youngsters inside a decade


• To halve the gap in Indigenous 12 months 12 achievement by 2020


• To halve the gap in employment outcomes amongst Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians inside a decade.

Yearly reports on the progress of Closing the Gap are released in early February by the prime minister.

Near the Gap and Closing the Gap – what’s the difference?