Closing the Gap: Model Development for Indigenous Health and Wellbeing in Australia

The Australian Government is working to fulfill the commitments made in partnership with First Nations people in the 2020 National Agreement on Closing the Gap. This agreement aims to accelerate improvements in socio-economic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.

To support this effort, the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) has commissioned Monash University to develop a proof-of-concept model to provide quantitative projections of four Closing the Gap targets. The model will focus on the First Nations population at the national level and will incorporate the lived experience and input from First Nations people throughout the design and building process. The Millennium Institute has been asked to support the technical model development until project completion in October 2023.

It is envisaged that when completed, the proof-of-concept model will address four of the Closing the Gap targets with built-in drivers of change, interlinkages between drivers and targets, and the capacity to simulate the impact of changes in drivers.