Julian Leeser MP
Shadow Minister for Education
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians
Federal Member for Berowra
Senator Matt O’Sullivan
Shadow Minister for Choice in Childcare and Early Learning
Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence
Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
The Albanese Government’s performance on Closing the Gap has been called into question after it failed to address serious flaws in the methodology used to measure its progress.
The Government has repeatedly claimed it is on track to meet its target of increasing the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children enrolled in preschool to 95 per cent by 2025.
The latest Productivity Commission report states the current proportion sits at 94.2 per cent, a figure the Prime Minister referenced in his February address marking the anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations.
However, a 2026 Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report has found these statistics to be unreliable. The methodology incorrectly divided 2023 preschool enrolment numbers by Indigenous population figures from the 2016 Census, data that was eight years out of date.
This flaw was previously highlighted in a $180,000 report commissioned by the Government from the Australian National University (ANU) back in 2023, which recommended adopting an alternative dataset to improve reporting reliability.
When questioned on the issue during Senate Estimates this week, Minister for Early Childhood Education Senator Jess Walsh admitted she was not aware of the ANAO report, five months after it was tabled in Parliament.
Senator O’Sullivan said, “While real improvements in outcomes would be welcome, it appears this government prioritises the appearance of meeting targets over achieving genuine results for vulnerable children.”
“Educational outcomes for Indigenous children will not improve while the government potentially misleads itself into believing it is succeeding,” said Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Julian Leeser.
The Minister refused to acknowledge the reliability issue with the target measurement, provided no commitment to review their methodology in the next Closing the Gap report, and gave no undertaking to implement the recommendations of the ANU report.
[ENDS]