In Always Was, Always Will Be, bestselling author Thomas Mayo investigates 'what's next?' for reconciliation and justice in Australia after the failed October 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum. Since the referendum, supporters and volunteers have been asking for guidance as to how to continue to support Indigenous recognition. Mayo, a leader of the Yes 23 campaign and co-author of the bestselling The Voice to Parliament Handbook, has penned a new book to answer that question.

In this collection of deeply insightful and powerful essays, Chelsea Watego examines the ongoing and daily racism faced by First Nations peoples in so-called Australia. Rather than offer yet another account of ‘the Aboriginal problem’, she theorises a strategy for living in a society that has only ever imagined Indigenous peoples as destined to die out. Drawing on her own experiences and observations of the operations of the colony, she exposes the lies that settlers tell about Indigenous people. In refusing such stories, Chelsea narrates her own: fierce, personal, sometimes funny, sometimes anguished. She speaks not of fighting back but of standing her ground against colonialism in academia, in court and in the media.

The 2023 Annual Report assesses the Commonwealth’s delivery against actions outlined in the 2023 Implementation Plan. The 2024 Implementation Plan is forward looking, outlining the Commonwealth’s strategic priorities for Closing the Gap over the next year. The 2023 Annual Report and 2024 Implementation Plan is supported by the 2023 Annual Report Background Report and 2024 Implementation Plan – Background Plan as well as an interactive Commonwealth Closing the Gap Actions Table which contains all new and existing measures being undertaken by the Commonwealth to support Closing the Gap efforts. Additional supporting reports are the 2023 Partnership Stocktake and the 2023 Sector Strengthening Plan Action Updates.

The Prime Minister delivered the Commonwealth Closing the Gap 2024 Annual Report and 2025 Implementation Plan on 10 February 2025. The 2024 Annual Report assesses the Commonwealth’s delivery against actions outlined in the 2024 Implementation Plan. The 2025 Implementation Plan is forward looking, outlining the Commonwealth’s strategic priorities for Closing the Gap over the next year. The 2024 Annual Report and 2025 Implementation Plan is supported by the 2024 Implementation Plan actions status table and 2025 Implementation Plan actions table, which lay out achievements and commitments.

This updated edition charts the journey of this nation-building reform from the earliest stages of Indigenous advocacy, explores myths and misconceptions and, importantly, explains how the Voice offers change that will benefit the whole nation.

Lowitja O'Donoghue is a truly great Australian. She is arguably our nation's most recognised Indigenous woman. A powerful and unrelenting advocate for her people, an inspiration for many, a former Australian of the Year, she sat opposite Prime Minister Paul Keating in the first negotiations between an Australian government and Aboriginal people and changed the course of the nation.