Can Australia close the gap?

On this Democracy Sausage Extra, we talk to Indigenous experts Professor Ian Anderson AO and Dr Virginia Marshall about the new National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the importance of shared decision-making, and whether Australia is taking meaningful steps towards genuine reconciliation.

Will the commitment of governments to sharing decision-making with Indigenous Australians through the new National Agreement on Closing the Gap be a turning point for Indigenous health and wellbeing? What does this agreement mean for the broader reconciliation agenda? And with little for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the recent Federal Budget, will governments ensure progress is supported financially in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis? On this Democracy Sausage Extra, we’re joined by Dr Virginia Marshall, the Inaugural Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National University (ANU), and Professor Ian Anderson AO, former Indigenous health practitioner, senior public servant, and now Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and University Experience) at ANU.

Ian Anderson AO is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student and University Experience) at The Australian National University. Before that, he spent three years leading Closing the Gap negotiations on behalf of the Australian government. Ian is a Palawa man from the northwest coast of Tasmania.

Virginia Marshall is the Inaugural Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellow with The Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) and the Fenner School of Environment and Society. She is a Wiradjuri Nyemba woman from New South Wales.

Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum.

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This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University.

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