The co-chairs of the Uluru Dialogue say progress on Closing the Gap is failing due to an inability to tackle the underlying causes, including the denial of self-determination.
Marking eight years since the historic Uluru Statement from the Heart was delivered, Professor Megan Davis AC and Pat Anderson AO have renewed their call for structural reform, saying the current Closing the Gap framework is fundamentally flawed.
"Any progress towards Closing the Gap has failed because they do not address the root cause: the absence of structural recognition and the denial of our rightful place in the governance of our own affairs," they said in a statement on Monday.
Released on National Sorry Day, which acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, they said the Uluru Statement from the Heart offered the nation "a gift: a roadmap for a better future, grounded in truth, law, love and hope for this country."
"It was not, and never will be, a political proposal; it was a unifying invitation to walk with us for a better future, one we can all be proud of," they said.
Arguing it "reverberated far beyond that day at the Rock," the two leaders said the statement both "catalysed a national conversation" as well as laid the "foundation for an enduring movement".
"The Uluru Statement permanently shifted how this country understands the unfinished business of our constitutional relationship and recognition."
Despite repeated government commitments, both leaders said it remains illogical to expect change while relying on the same top-down models that have failed for decades.
As several Closing the Gap metrics - including youth and adult incarceration, children in out-of-home care(OOHC) and suicide - continue to regress, the two eminent leaders said "systemic flaws" in the Closing the Gap framework encompass more than just data analysis.
Rather, they say "the structural design" and "status quo" continue to exacerbate Indigenous disadvantage.
"We cannot continue to reproduce models that exclude us and expect different outcomes. We have been let down by these models time and time again," they said.
Last year, the Productivity Commission found a failure by governments to relinquish power and the persistence of 'government knows best' thinking.
Commissioner Romlie Mokak, a Djugun man and member of the Yawuru people, said at the time: "Efforts to improve outcomes are far more likely to succeed when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lead their design and implementation".
In the aftermath, the PM said the old ways of doing things had failed, arguing policy partnerships required governments to relinquish some of their power by coming to decisions by consensus with First Nations representatives.
In their statement, Professor Davis and Ms Anderson said: "To move forward positively, the Government must listen more broadly to our people in communities around this country and not solely to those who are contracted and paid by Government."
"We are a country that can safely say we have never tried the lever that has allowed so many other Australians to flourish…recognition. We've tried everything else, closing the gap, economic development, economic empowerment... but we've never tried this," they said.
"We are still here. We have not given up. We won't give up. This is generational work, and we are steadfast in our commitment to see it through."
