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Sitting back and complaining about the “gap” gets us nowhere. Being honest about the bad things in Indigenous communities and positive about the good — that’s the way forward.

Need not race.

That’s the message I’ve been hammering for years.

You and I know that the relentless focus on race is actually harmful to disadvantaged indigenous people and we’re all better off if we simply focus government support on need.

And I had the opportunity to make that case to the ABC on Monday.

As you know, I’ve had my disagreements with the ABC, but 730 remains a big part of the news landscape, so I spoke with Sarah Ferguson about the Advancement Movement I wrote about last week in The Australian.

Sarah was probing and forthright, but like many she remains stuck in a point of view I’m pushing back against.

That view is that indigeneity is why Aboriginal people are suffering.

It is looking at Aboriginal people as a group, not as a bunch of individuals who have different experiences and needs – just like anyone else.

First and foremost, I argued that indigeneity is not a factor of disadvantage for many, if not most, Indigenous Australians.

There are many Indigenous success stories in our great nation.

There is nothing about their race that makes that impossible.

Where Indigenous communities are struggling, it is often because of remoteness — something that has adverse influence on outcomes for every Australian — and adhering to cultural practices that hold people back.

Not being honest about this has driven so much of the failures in Indigenous policy.

Not being honest about the fact that so-called “respect” for culture means children in vulnerable and dangerous situations are not being removed from those situations.

As I said in the interview, we don’t look at kids of Indian or Chinese heritage and say they can only be cared for in Indian or Chinese families. We don’t treat other cultures and races the same as we do Indigenous people.

And then we wonder why the gap isn’t closing.

Advancement is not just honest about the bad things, it’s also about promoting the good things.

Economic participation and advancement, support for Indigenous businesses must become a priority.

Sitting back and complaining about the “gap” gets us nowhere.

Being honest about the bad, positive about the good. That’s the way forward.

Focusing on need not race.

That’s the only way the gap will ever close.

You can watch my whole interview below.

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