The Commonwealth partnership stocktake (Clauses 36 and 37 in the National Agreement) is the main indicator in assessing if governments are making progress against Priority Reform One “where governments have committed to building and strengthening structures that empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to share decision making authority with government to accelerate policy and place-based progress against Closing the Gap” (National Agreement). The intent of the Commonwealth partnership stocktake is to measure the number and strength of partnership arrangements over the course of the National Agreement.
The 2023 Commonwealth Partnership Stocktake identified 38 Commonwealth partnership arrangements that met the strong partnership element, Clause 32C(i), that ‘Decision-making is shared between government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Shared decision-making is by consensus, where the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parties hold as much weight as the governments' in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Of the 38 partnerships, 19 are new in 2023 and 19 continue from the first Partnership Stocktake in 2022.
This year’s stocktake assessed place-based partnerships at the program level, noting that these partnerships may cover many regions.
The 38 identified partnership arrangements work to improve policy and place-based outcomes in key areas such as health and disability, early childhood care and education, justice, land and sea, employment, and languages.