COAG Indigenous Reform Agenda

In 2007- 08 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) set out a new reform agenda in Indigenous affairs. The COAG reforms are aimed at “closing the gap” by improving outcomes between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians in the areas of life expectancy, health, education and employment.

National Indigenous Reform Agreement

COAG’s National Indigenous Reform Agreement:

• commits all jurisdictions to achieving the Closing the Gap targets
• sets out the objectives, outcomes, outputs, performance indicators and performance benchmarks agreed by COAG
• provides links to other National Agreements and National Partnerships that include elements which will address the targets
• sets out the National Integrated Strategy for Closing the Gap

Indigenous Expenditure Report

COAG has also committed to reporting transparently on expenditure on services to Indigenous Australians. The report will include expenditure on both Indigenous-specific services and key mainstream programs provided by the Australian, State and Territory governments.

Relevant documents are available from the Indigenous Expenditure Report website.

Closing the Gap Clearinghouse

COAG has funded the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse to collect and make publicly available evidence-based research on overcoming disadvantage for Indigenous Australians.

Implementing COAG’s Indigenous Reform Agenda

Implementation plans for the Indigenous specific National Partnerships are available from the Ministerial Council for Federal Financial Relations website.

Monitoring COAG’s Indigenous Reform Agenda

COAG Reform Council

The COAG Reform Council monitors, assesses and publicly report on governments’ performance in achieving the outcomes and performance benchmarks specified in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement.

The COAG Reform Council reports to COAG are available from the Council's website.

Productivity Commission

The Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision collates information relevant to the performance indicators in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement and provides it to the COAG Reform Council.

The Steering Committee reports are available from the Review website.

Coordinator General for Indigenous Remote Services

The Coordinator General reports on the performance of Australian Government agencies in meeting their commitments to implement the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery.