20 March 2025 – Melbourne, VIC – The National Indigenous Health Leadership Alliance (NIHLA) proudly supports National Close the Gap Day 2025 and the launch of the latest Close the Gap Report, Agency, Leadership, Reform: Ensuring the Survival, Dignity, and Wellbeing of First Nations Peoples.
The report, released today by the Close the Gap Campaign, outlines the urgent need for governments to fully implement the four Priority Reform Areas of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. It provides a roadmap for systemic reform, highlighting how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agency and leadership are central to achieving real, lasting change.
The 2025 Close the Gap Report is structured around four critical themes that drive meaningful reform:
- Agency and Self-Determination – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must lead decision-making processes that affect their lives.
- Leadership and Solidarity – Indigenous leadership, alongside strong allyship, is essential in closing the gap.
- Reform and Transformation – The report calls for comprehensive structural change to eliminate racism, improve data sovereignty, and ensure culturally safe policies.
A Call for Genuine Commitment
NIHLA joins Indigenous leaders and advocates in calling on governments to:
- Ensure their agencies and departments honour their commitments to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The recommendations from the Productivity Commission’s 2024 Review provides a guide as to how..
- Invest in Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), who are held to a higher accountability level than non-Indigenous organisations, yet have proven to improve health, social, and emotional wellbeing outcomes for First Nations communities.
- Establish true partnerships by ensuring that policies, programs, and services are co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Karl Briscoe, Chair of NIHLA emphasised the success of Indigenous-led solutions state that “Where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have driven the implementation of the Priority Reform Areas in our communities, we have seen real progress. This report demonstrates the power of our leadership when governments listen, trust, and act in good faith.”
Join the Movement
Close the Gap Day is a powerful reminder that health equality is a basic human right. The public is encouraged to show support by signing the Close the Gap pledge, sharing messages on social media, and demanding stronger action from governments.
Learn more & sign the pledge: closethegap.org.au
Follow the conversation: #CloseTheGap #CTGDay2025 #JourneyTogether
Key Facts:
· The reports demonstrate community resilience, leadership, and success in driving positive change despite ongoing systemic challenges. They provide strong messaging points for media campaigns advocating for continued investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led initiatives.
· Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leadership and communities know the problems, but they also know the solutions. Respecting self-determination enables bottom-up solutions rather than top-down bureaucratic solutions that often fail than succeed.
· Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities are contributors to the economy. Indigenous businesses now generate over $16 billion in annual revenue, employ 115,000 Indigenous people, and contribute $4.2 billion in wages to the Australian economy. Studies show that for every $1 invested in an Indigenous business, there is a $4.41 return, highlighting the strong economic and social impact of community-led business initiatives.
About us:
National Indigenous Health Leadership Alliance (NIHLA), formerly the NHLF, is a partnership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing organisations, whose purpose is to drive systemic and structural transformation of mainstream government systems, including addressing institutional racism and advancing the human rights of Indigenous peoples in alignment with the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan. As a partnership we provide specific expertise regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges and perspectives. We hold expertise across health, aged care and disability policy and service delivery, as well as workforce, research, organisational and business development, healing, mental health, and social, cultural and emotional wellbeing.
Contact details:
For media enquiries about the Close the Gap Campaign contact: Zara Pitt – Executive Officer: zara@naatsihwp.org.au
For media enquires about NIHLA contact: Colleen Gibbs – Executive Officer: nhlf@iaha.com.au
