More Effective Government
A commitment to transparency and accountability
The Government will be accountable for outcomes for Indigenous Australians, hence our commitment to measurable targets and milestones and to regular reporting.
On the first working day of each parliamentary year the Prime Minister will report to Parliament on progress on our specific targets.
The necessary corollary is transparent monitoring to measure progress across government. Through the COAG Working Group on Indigenous Reform we will be progressing arrangements for independent national monitoring and reporting of progress against agreed targets.
On 20 March 2008 the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a new National Indigenous Health Equality Council to assist in the development and monitoring of targets relating to life expectancy and child mortality.
These arrangements will complement, and not duplicate, other accountability arrangements including the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage reporting framework, program performance reporting, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework, and new arrangements being established to monitor performance through Specific Purpose Payments. They will complement the framework being developed by Commonwealth and State Treasurers to report on overall expenditure on Indigenous services funded from mainstream and Indigenous-specific sources.