A recently published United Nations Human Development Report has rated indigenous Australians as having the second worst quality of life in the world after China. The life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people is 20 years; whereas in North America, the gap is five to seven years. Ged Cowin of the Australian Nursing Federation told ABC news online that the National Aboriginal Health Strategy, created 15 years ago to alleviate health problems in Aboriginal communities, has been "gathering dust sitting on a shelf and nobody has had the impetus or will to really attempt to implement that strategy."
