Governments are leaving ‘heavy lifting’ on Closing the Gap to underresourced Aboriginal groups, review finds

The latest government update on Closing the Gap targets shows only four are on track, while six are improving but not on track, four are worsening and a further four cannot be assessed. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Australian governments are failing to do “the heavy lifting” needed to address entrenched disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, an independent review of the national Closing the Gap strategy has found.

The review by the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney is the first to independently assess the implementation of the Closing the Gap agreement since its establishment in 2008.