Overview of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap
The National Agreement represents a fundamental shift in the way First Peoples and governments are working in partnership to deliver better outcomes for First Peoples.
When the Victorian Government signed the National Agreement in July 2020, alongside all Australian governments, the Australian Local Government Association and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks), it committed to a 10-year journey to fundamentally transform the way it works with First Peoples. The Coalition of Peaks, a representative body of over eighty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak organisations and members, was formed as an act of self-determination to work in partnership with Australian governments on Closing the Gap.
The National Agreement is structured around four Priority Reforms that are the mutually reinforcing enablers for achieving better outcomes for First Peoples. The Priority Reforms also broadly align with the four self-determination enablers in the VAAF (see Figure 1), which has guided the Victorian Government’s efforts to improve outcomes for and with First Peoples since 2018.
The four Priority Reforms are:
- Priority Reform One: Formal partnerships and shared decision-making
- Priority Reform Two: Building the community-controlled sector
- Priority Reform Three: Transforming government organisations
- Priority Reform Four: Shared access to data and information at a regional level.
The National Agreement also sets out 17 socio-economic outcome areas and 19 associated socio-economic targets to measure progress in the outcomes experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Summaries of how Victoria is progressing against the targets for socio-economic outcome areas are included on the overview page of each relevant VAAF goal.
The Productivity Commission Review of the National Agreement
Implementation of the National Agreement is at a critical juncture. On 7 February 2024, the Productivity Commission published its first, three-yearly review of progress under the National Agreement (Review). The Review raises significant concerns with the implementation of the National Agreement, finding that governments have failed to enact the transformative changes required to realise the National Agreement's vision.
While noting the significant progress made towards self-determination in Victoria through the Treaty process, the Review highlights significant structural issues in governments’ approaches to implementing the National Agreement, which have resulted in a lack of progress towards the Priority Reforms. The Review recommends significant changes to government policies and implementation approaches at the national and jurisdictional level. It includes 16 essential actions, grouped under four recommendations:
- Power needs to be shared.
- Indigenous Data Sovereignty needs to be recognised and supported.
- Mainstream government systems and culture need to be fundamentally rethought.
- Stronger accountability is needed to drive behaviour change.
In November 2023, the Victorian Government made a public submission to the Productivity Commission review, highlighting Victoria’s commitment to implementing the National Agreement in partnership with First Peoples, and driving the fundamental, transformational change across government that is required to do so. Victoria is now working with government parties and the Coalition of Peaks to develop the Joint Council response to the Review, which will discuss opportunities for interjurisdictional collaboration to address the Productivity Commission’s findings. The Review will also be a key consideration in the development of Victoria’s new Implementation Plan.
Under the National Agreement, an independent First Peoples led review is due to be carried out within twelve months of the Review. This will be an opportunity to capture the lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities of the implementation of this National Agreement, to highlight areas of achievement and improvement, as well as priority areas where greater collective effort of the parties is required.
Victoria’s Closing the Gap Implementation Plan
Victoria’s Implementation Plan runs until the end of June 2025, and it outlines the actions Victoria is taking to implement the National Agreement, driving progress towards the Priority Reforms and socioeconomic outcomes. The Implementation Plan, Victoria’s first under the National Agreement, sets the groundwork for actions that will create lasting change, including providing greater resourcing to ACCOs, addressing cultural safety in mainstream institutions, and investing in data and information sharing with First Peoples.
Over the next twelve months, the Victorian Government will be working in close partnership with First Peoples to reflect on the lessons learned from the Victoria’s first Implementation Plan. The new Implementation Plan will include an update on the progress of the whole-of-government actions that are ongoing from the 2021-2025 Implementation Plan, including identifying challenges and opportunities for improvement, and detail the next stage of actions that will build on the progress achieved thus far.
The new Implementation Plan will also incorporate the findings from the Productivity Commission Review and its recommendation that implementation plans should be drafted more strategically and in collaboration with First Peoples. Consistent with Priority Reform One, a partnership approach will be embedded in all stages of the development of the new Implementation Plan, to ensure that it reflects the needs and priorities of First Peoples in Victoria and recognises the expertise and authority of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) sectors to determine how service systems can best meet their needs.
Victoria’s Closing the Gap Partnership Forum
Victoria’s Partnership Forum, established in May 2022, is the formal body for shared decision-making between the Victorian Government and First Peoples on whole-of-government Closing the Gap implementation. The Partnership Forum comprises:
- Representatives of fourteen ACCO sectors, elected by ACCOs and Traditional Owner groups through a community-based selection process.
- Aboriginal Governance Forum delegates, as nominated by the Aboriginal Caucuses of the Victorian Aboriginal Governance Forums.
- Senior executives across the Victorian Government, including Secretaries of each department, the Chief Commissioner of Police, the Victorian Public Sector Commissioner and the Chief Executive Officer of Homes Victoria.
The Partnership Forum has been steadily gaining momentum since its establishment. It met three times in the 2023 calendar year and has met a total of five times as of May 2024. The Partnership Forum is currently building on 2023 achievements profiled in this Report by:
- Progressing Victoria’s Place-based Partnership (PBP) and Community Data Project (CDP) in Gippsland in partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, local communities, key sector representatives and government.
- Allocating the remaining $2.76 million sector funding across the priority sectors of health, disability, housing, early childhood care and development, and languages.
- Overseeing planning for a second Victorian Expenditure Review, building on lessons learned from Victoria’s 2023 Expenditure Review.
- Strengthening whole-of-government accountability mechanisms for Closing the Gap implementation.
Ngaweeyan Maar-oo
Ngaweeyan Maar-oo, the Koorie Caucus of the Partnership Forum, comprises the Partnership Forum’s ACCO sector representatives and Aboriginal Governance Forum delegates. As the formal decision-making partner with the Victorian Government on implementation of the National Agreement, Ngaweeyan Maar-oo informs the design, implementation, oversight and monitoring of the National Agreement and Victoria’s Implementation Plan.
Ngaweeyan Maar-oo meets independently of Government to determine policy positions and engage independent policy advice. This includes producing responses to drafts and inquiries, allocating funding, community engagement and expert working groups. It is supported by a secretariat, auspiced by the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service.
Through its membership of the Coalition of Peaks, Ngaweeyan Maar-oo ensures that the wide range of knowledge and expertise within its membership informs Closing the Gap implementation at both the national and local level.
Annual reporting approach
Government parties report annually on the implementation of the National Agreement. In Victoria, annual reporting against the National Agreement is currently embedded in the annual Victorian Government Aboriginal Affairs Report. Reporting for the calendar year 2022 was embedded in the 2022 Report, which was tabled in Parliament on 22 June 2023. This Report primarily relates to the calendar year 2023 with 2024 updates included where appropriate.
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