Almost every one of the government’s targets to reduce disadvantage between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians isn’t on track to be met.
In releasing the 2017 , the government has ignored pleas from many Indigenous groups to include an extra target to reduce the number of Indigenous people going to prison.
The annual Closing the Gap report has seven indicators of Indigenous disadvantage and targets to reduce them.
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The government reported it is on track to halve the gap in Year 12 attainment rates by 2020 and could potentially close the gap in access to early childhood education by 2025.
But the government will not meet targets to close or reduce the gap on the remaining six targets, including in life expectancy, infant mortality, education and employment.
Speaking in parliament in response to the report, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged "we are still not making enough progress".
"While we must accelerate progress and close the gap, we must also tell the broader story of Indigenous Australia, not of despondency and deficit, but of a relentless and determined optimism," he said.
The National Congress of Australia’s First People, a member-based organisation representing Indigenous peoples’ interests, was disheartened by the latest report.
“We hear the same old, same old in terms of how less we have improved,” congress co-chair Jackie Huggins told reporters after the annual Close the Gap event at Parliament.
“The negatives totally overpower this.”
Calls for justice target ignored
Indigenous advocates and prominent groups, as well as the Labor Party, have called for a justice target to be introduced for years.
But while the 2017 report notes Indigenous people are over-represented in the justice system, with nearly 11,000 Indigenous prisoners in jail in 2016, the Closing the Gap report has not introduced a justice target.
“We've got to have a better justice system and a better system of care where the default position isn't to send people, based on their skin colour, to jail,” Mr Shorten said.
Constitutional recognition
Mr Turnbull also spoke about the push to have Indigenous people recognised in Australia's Constitution.
"While many issues divide us in this place, we are united in our determination to ensure that our Constitution is amended once again to recognise our First Australians," he said.
"Changing the Constitution is neither easy nor a task for the faint-hearted. The Referendum Council will conclude its consultation this year so that then parliament can complete the work of formulating and presenting the recognition amendments."
Rudd warns of second Stolen Generation
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has warned of the potential for a second Stolen Generation as the numbers of indigenous children in out-of-home care continue to increase.
Monday marked nine years since Mr Rudd's national apology to the Stolen Generation.
In an address to the Australian National University, he raised concerns about the sheer numbers of indigenous children being removed from their families.
In 2006, 6497 Aboriginal children were in out-of-home care nationally. By mid-2015 the number had grown to 15,432.
"We do not want another generation of young Aboriginal children unnecessarily separated from their culture," Mr Rudd said.
"We do not want to see the emergence of a second Stolen Generation, not by design, but by default."
Mr Rudd is worried some removals are not carried out on the basis of last resort, as stipulated by a child placement principle.
