NT: ANTAR applauds Beazley's indigenous commitment

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2006
NT: ANTAR applauds Beazley's indigenous commitment

DARWIN, Aug 4 AAP - Opposition Leader Kim Beazley's promise to reverse Australia's
poor record on Aboriginal health has been applauded by Australians for Native Title and
Reconciliation (ANTaR).

Mr Beazley has pledged to reverse third world figures and statistics on Aboriginal
health in his first two terms if Labor wins government.

ANTaR national director Gary Highland urged Prime Minister John Howard to match Mr
Beazley's commitment.

"The lack of an agreed time frame has allowed the national scandal of indigenous health
to fester for far too long," Mr Highland said in a statement.

"Mr Beazley has now placed a deadline for a future Labor government to turn this situation
around.

"However ending Australia's indigenous health crisis should be a commitment shared
by all sides of politics and all sections of Australian society.

"ANTaR would also like to see the prime minister and federal parliament as a whole
commit to a deadline for closing the life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous
children."

Indigenous Australians experience some of the worst health rates in the world, including
a significantly lower life expectancy at birth than other Australians.

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KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS ANTAR

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