Nineteen targets, over 160 supporting indicators, an independent custodian, and a dashboard maintained between annual releases. The July 2026 compilation reports 1 target met, 3 showing good improvement and on track, 5 improving but not on track, 4 worsening, 2 showing no change from baseline, 3 with data available that cannot be assessed, and 1 with no data at all. Data exists for 18 of the 19; progress is assessed for 15.

That last part is the tell. A report willing to say which of its own targets it cannot assess, and why, is reporting rather than presenting.

The four getting worse are adult imprisonment, children's early development, out-of-home care and suicide. They are named as worsening, in a government publication, without qualification.

Two structural features make that possible and are worth separating from the result. The repository is maintained by the Productivity Commission rather than by the departments delivering the programs, so the body reporting performance is not the body being assessed. And the 2026 edition began incorporating community-governed data, which changes who holds the pen rather than how the numbers are presented.

The register records a limitation alongside this win, because reporting well on outcomes is not the same as reporting well on money. The Productivity Commission has separately found declining transparency over progress and a lack of transparency over how federal funding agreements support Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.

So the honest summary is that Australia can see whether the targets are being met and cannot see clearly what is being spent to meet them. That gap is a candidate entry in its own right and has not yet been assessed.

Opened and read on 2026-09-03. The entry previously listed four progress categories and stopped there, which made the reporting look tidier than it is. The compilation actually publishes seven, including the two targets showing no change from baseline, the three with data that cannot be assessed, and the one with no data available.

Naming those last four is the more creditable half of the disclosure and the entry had omitted it.