What is Close the Gap? Closing the Gap Day + Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Life Expectancy

Описание: CLOSE THE GAP
Today is Close the Gap day. It's all about improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and eliminating the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Aussies. For almost 15 years Close the Gap has been working to remove the life expectancy gap in Australia. Because Indigenous Aussies are more likely to die at a younger age than non-Indigenous Aussies. The movement aims to fix the problem by providing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People with better access to things like healthcare, work & education.

Each year a Close the Gap report is put together that includes a bunch of recommendations. This year's report covers everything from making sure more indigenous Aussies have better access to quality healthcare, to giving the community a greater voice in political decision making. However, while lots of people agree that these ideas are a good start, Governments still need to agree to them and put them into action and many reckon there's still a long way to go before Australia can finally close the gap.

AFL RETURN
Guess what AFL fans? Footy's back. The AFL season kicks off tonight with reigning premiers, the Richmond Tigers, taking on the Carlton Blues. There'll be some pretty big changes this season, including a new medical substitution rule for if players get seriously injured during the game & can't keep playing and for the first time in ages 50,000 fans will be allowed into the MCG to watch.

REGENT HONEYEATER
A study from ANU has found that this species of bird, The regent honeyeater, is in a bit of a pickle. They're now so endangered there aren't enough male adults to teach the young their song. That's a big problem, because their song is how they communicate and find a mate. The Regent Honeyeaters live in this whole area of the east coast and with only 150 males predicted to be left in the wild. Trying to find one in all that space is pretty hard, especially now that honeyeaters have started to copy the songs of other birds instead of using their own. To help fix this experts at ANU are now working with Taronga Zoo to give young honeyeaters some singing lessons. by playing recordings through speakers in their enclosure. It's hoped when they're released into the wild they'll be able to sing like a pro!

THEME PARK NO SCREAMING
A number of theme parks in the US are gearing up to reopen in the coming months and thrill seekers are so excited they could scream, but they better not! Yup visitors to parks like Disneyland, Universal studios and Six Flags will be asked to keep it down on the rides. It's part of California's Covid Guidelines, which is asking businesses to limit activities that can spread the virus like shouting, singing and screaming!

AERIAL STUNTS
How easy does this look!? Answer - not easy at all! These polish daredevils came up with the game AIR. Basically it involves two people, one person skydiving and another flying a stunt plane nearby. Both trying to outdo each other with specky acrobatic stunts in the air - Easy!

MOTORCYCLE
And I know what you're thinking, motorbikes don't belong in the snow! Or do they? Motocross pro Mat Rebeaud has taken to down hilling the slopes of Laax in Switzerland on an electric powered FMX bikes to show off some cool moves! See what I did there? Cool, cause it's cold.

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