Last night, the Productivity Commission released its Closing the Gap Annual Data Compilation Report. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, it is another sombre picture.
This data is upsetting, but it is not surprising. Our families already know what it shows, because they live it every day.
We are midway to the 2031 deadline. Of the 19 socio-economic targets, one target has been met, and three are on track. Governments signed the National Agreement in 2020 and committed to a different way of working. Six years on, the evidence in front of us is that the commitment has not carried through to action.
There are notable wins in this report, and they matter. Preschool enrolment and healthy birthweight are the areas where our children are gaining ground. That is not an accident. It is what happens when communities and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are trusted and resourced to lead. These are the blueprints.
Governments do not need to design something new. They need to fund and follow what is already working in the areas where our children are still being removed, still being detained, and still going without.
Every year these targets stall or regress, a generation of young people carries the cost, and the same gaps pass to the next generation. That tells our children something about whether these systems were built for them.
So I am asking all governments for three things. Apply the approach that is working on preschool and birthweight to the targets that are stalling and going backwards. Fully implement Priority Reform Two and resource the community-controlled sector to deliver it. Bring us into decisions before they are made, not after.
This is the first national data release since the National Commission commenced on 1 July 2026. We will be tracking what governments do between now and the next report, and we will report publicly on it.
First Nations children are not slipping through the cracks. They are being failed by systems designed without them. That is our Closing the Gap reality, and it is within the power of our governments to change.