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.

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.

The story of the twelve Regional Dialogues and the Uluru National Constitutional Convention, attended by 1500 everyday First Peoples. The unanimous result was the Uluru Statement From The Heart, and its call for Voice and Makarrata.

Davis presents the Voice to Parliament as an Australian solution to an Australian problem. For Indigenous people, it is a practical response to the torment of powerlessness. She highlights the failure of past policies, in areas from child protection to closing the gap, and the urgent need for change. She also brings out the creative and imaginative dimensions of the Voice. Fundamental to her account is the importance of truly listening. In explaining why the Voice is needed from the ground up, she evokes a new vision of Country and community.

This report was handed to the Joint Council on Closing the Gap on 24 January 2024 and publicly released on 7 February 2024. This is the Productivity Commission’s first review of progress on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The key message of this report is that fundamental changes are required to deliver on the Agreement.