More fails than passes.
Those are the findings in the federal government's eighth annual Closing the Gap report on reducing Indigenous disadvantage.
While the government is on track to meet the target on infant mortality and year 12 qualifications, the targets on life expectancy, school attendance, literacy and employment are not on track.
Indigenous leaders say the results show a need for a radical change to the Closing the Gap policy.
A decade since Closing the Gap was launched to reduce Indigenous disadvantage in health and social outcomes, the latest annual report shows the overall improvement has been minimal.
The good news: the targets to halve infant mortality by 2018 and halve the gap in Year 12 attainment rates for Indigenous Australians are on track.
But the 10-year gap in life expectancy remains and some measures, like employment and certain education targets, have even gone backwards.
Tabling the report in parliament, Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull renewed the federal government's commitment to Indigenous constitutional recognition.
He also announced $20 million in extra funding for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, which collects and preserves Indigenous cultural knowledge.
"We recognise and value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and peoples. And we're proud that their history is our history, their culture is our culture, their values are our values."
He admits a lot of work needs to be done, but says the Closing the Gap framework needs to be maintained.
"We have to stay the course on the key policy priorities: the transformative power of education, the fulfilment that comes from employment. The right of all people to be safe and free from family and domestic violence. Especially women and children. While delivering on these priorities, we must be innovative in creating effective solutions, in partnership with the community, to address those challenges."
Opposition leader Bill Shorten says reducing the disproportionate numbers of Indigenous Australians in prison is crucial to closing the disadvantage gap.
Indigenous Australians represent three per cent of the population but make up 27 per cent of the prison population.
Mr Shorten urged the Prime Minister to join him in his push to include a Close the Gap target on reducing Indigenous incarceration.
"These facts are more than uncomfortable. They are not the nation that we wish to see in the mirror. It cannot be correct that the colour of your skin is a greater predictor of going to prison and until we address this problem we will never close the gap."
Mr Shorten also backed the Prime Minister's support for Indigenous constitutional recognition, saying a Labor government would hold a referendum on the issue within its first year in office.
The Close the Gap campaign, meanwhile, produces a progress report alongside the Prime Minister's report.
Launched this year by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and the co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples Doctor Jackie Huggins, the report calls for a parliamentary inquiry into what it terms institutional racism.
It points to the difference in cancer survival rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as a sign that more needs to be done to address racism in the healthcare system.
As examples, it cites "monolingual services operating in a multilingual area" and health professionals making assumptions as to whether patients are Aboriginal or not.
Debate around the effectiveness of the Closing the Gap policy was brought to the fore earlier this week when high-profile Yawuru leader Noel Pearson called for the policy to be scrapped, saying it is doomed to fail the way it is currently being implemented.
Doctor Jackie Huggins says there is a crisis in Indigenous Affairs, and that an overhaul of the policy is needed.
She urged political parties to better engage with Indigenous Australians, making health services for first nations people a priority in this year's election campaign pledges.
"We have known for a long time that our people are best placed to determine and deliver the healthcare that we need so badly. We have the solutions, and you must listen to us, you must engage and you must work with us. That is our plea."
Founding chairman of the Close the Gap campaign, Tom Calma, says he still hopes gains can be made within the next 15 years, but funding and policy stability are crucial.
"The groundwork and implementation plan must be furnished with the resources and the commitment and policy stability that it needs to if we are going to see the real outcomes. And I know the resiliency and strength of the Torres Strait Islander peoples will not be fully appreciated and our potential fully realised until we give them a fair and equitable shot at living full and healthy lives."
