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Closing the Gap and National Government Reporting

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Overview of ABS collections used in Closing the Gap and National Government Reporting

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Reference period
2022-23 financial year

ABS surveys, the Census of Population and Housing (Census) and other administrative data are a key source of information for Closing the Gap and national government reports.

These reports include information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on a range of topics such as:

  • Population and Demographics
  • Education and Work
  • Health and Disability
  • Crime and Justice
  • Culture and Language
  • Housing and Homelessness

Most of these reports provide analysis at national and/or state and territory levels, with some additional analysis by remoteness areas.

Closing the Gap

The National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the National Agreement) includes 19 national socio-economic targets across 17 socio-economic outcome areas. It is based on four Priority Reforms that will change how governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

Progress is monitored by the Productivity Commission and available in the Closing the Gap Information Repository. The Information Repository includes a data dashboard and annual data report.

The ABS provided data and technical advice during the development of the National Agreement and continues to support the National Agreement through the Australian Government Closing the Gap implementation plan.

The ABS contributes to Priority Reform 4 of the National Agreement – shared access to data and information at a regional level – through:

Closing the Gap targets using ABS data sources

National Government Reporting

National government reports that include information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are outlined below.

ReportAgency responsibleFrequency
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF)Australian Institute of Health and WelfareEvery 2-3 years, with regular updates as new data is released
Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID)Productivity CommissionEvery 2-3 years
Report on Government Services (RoGS)Productivity CommissionYearly
Australia’s healthAustralian Institute of Health and WelfareEvery 2 years
Australia’s welfareAustralian Institute of Health and WelfareEvery 2 years

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF)

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID)

Report on Government Services (RoGS)

Australia’s health

Australia’s welfare

Access to National Reporting data on the ABS website

ABS publications

Where possible, the ABS aligns with Closing the Gap target specifications in topic pages. Topic pages can be accessed from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples statistics page.

Data by region

Information collected in the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Census that is used to measure Closing the Gap targets is available in Data by region for selected geographies. This data can also be download in table format in Data by region methodology.

Microdata and TableBuilder

Most ABS datasets that contribute to Closing the Gap and national government reports are available in:

These data tools allow you to create customised Census and survey data

More information is available on the Microdata and TableBuilder page.

Census data

Survey data