This website brings together information from numerous sources to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date view of the state of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) health outcomes, the broader determinants of health and health system performance in one area. It is designed to inform policy, service planning, program development and research.
Beginning in 2006, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) reports have been released every 2-3 years. In the seventh edition (released in 2020) the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website was created to allow for more ongoing and timely updates to the measures as data become available. The website includes data analyses drawn from over 60 data collections, findings from research and evaluations, and analysis of implications of the evidence for government, health services and the research sector.
In addition to migrating all content to the HPF website, the measures include enhanced sections on research and evaluations. These provide insights into aspects of health and service delivery that are not easily captured in the administrative data collections, but can demonstrate characteristics of communities and services that are working well or need improvement.
Feature articles published on this website draw out insights from the data and research, exploring particular topics across the HPF measures. These are prepared by the AIHW.
The content for this website has been provided by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA). Attribution for content is provided in the Structure of the HPF website section and the Reports section below.
Structure of the HPF website
This Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website contains a range of products including reporting on each of 68 measures, a national summary report, state and territory reports, feature articles, interactive data visualisations and supplementary data tables.
Measures
The HPF consists of 68 measures across three domains (tiers):
- Tier 1 – Health status and outcomes measure the prevalence of health conditions including disease or injury, human function, life expectancy and wellbeing, and deaths.
- Tier 2 – Determinants of health measure the determinants of health including socioeconomic factors, environmental factors and health behaviours.
- Tier 3 – Health system performance outcomes measure the health system’s performance towards meeting the health needs of First Nations people. It measures health system effectiveness, responsiveness, accessibility, continuity, capability and sustainability.
Each measure consists of:
- Key facts/messages: (content provided by AIHW and NIAA): Key data facts and research findings relevant to the measure.
- Why is it important? (content provided by NIAA and AIHW) This section includes explanation of the key issues that the measure addresses and their impact on First Nations people. The section may refer to specific objectives in national policy and practice and may also discuss limitations of the indicators included in the measure.
- Data findings: (content provided by AIHW) This includes a summary of key findings from the national data collected for the measure, including relationships with other measures where relevant.
- Research and evaluation findings: (content provided by NIAA): This includes a summary of key local and international research and evaluations. The section refers to relationships with other measures where relevant.
- Implications: (content provided by NIAA) This section highlights implications of the evidence for government, health services and the research sector.
- References: details of citations included in the measures.
- Related measures: a list of measures that are related to the current measure.
- Data
- Data visualisation: (content provided by AIHW) each measure has interactive charts that the user can adjust by various topics and disaggregations.
- Data tables and resources: (content provided by AIHW) The data supporting the measures are provided in downloadable MS Excel tables with comprehensive notes on sources and statistical methods used.
- Data sources: (content provided by AIHW) data sources used in the measures and information about data set updates.
Reports
Reports includes the current national summary report, current summary reports for each jurisdiction, and feature articles. It also includes copies of archived historical reports.
Summary report
The summary report outlines the latest information on health outcomes, health system performance and the broader determinants of health for First Nations people, drawing from the HPF measures. The report is available in web report format and as a downloadable PDF (content provided by AIHW).
Feature articles
Feature articles (content provided by AIHW) draw out insights from the data and research, exploring particular topics across the HPF measures.
The aim of these articles is to look at linkages across the three domains for a particular topic of interest with the objective of providing fresh policy-relevant insights.
The first feature article was: Key factors contributing to low birthweight among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies. This report examines birthweight among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies, with a focus on identifying factors contributing to low birthweight.
The second feature article is: Closing the Gap education, employment and housing targets: key findings and implications. This report outlines the key factors associated with the Closing the Gap targets on education, employment and housing, identifying common themes and strategies for improvement.
State and territory reports
Key findings for each state and territory are available to download as individual reports (content provided by AIHW). The availability of state reports by year of publication is shown in the table below.
Availability of publications for states and territories, by year of publication
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2010 |
2012 |
2014 |
2017 |
2020 |
2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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NSW |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
– |
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Vic |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
– |
– |
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Qld |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
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WA |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
– |
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SA |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
– |
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Tas |
– |
– |
– |
– |
✔ |
– |
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ACT |
– |
✔ |
– |
✔ |
✔ |
– |
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NT |
✔ |
– |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
– |
View all reports.
Data and resources
- Data and resources
- Access data: downloadable data tables
- Technical appendix
Background
Suggested citation
Website:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare & National Indigenous Australians Agency (insert year of latest update). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed [insert date].
Webpage:
See citation given at the top of each webpage. For example, the citation for Measure 1.01 Birthweight is:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare & National Indigenous Australians Agency (2024) Measure 1.01 Birthweight, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed [insert date].
Click or tap on the quotation marks next to the page title to see the suggested citation.
If citing a specific section of the measures page, look for the quotation marks attached to the heading of that section. For example, for the ‘Implications’ content of Measure 1.01 Birthweight the suggested citation is:
National Indigenous Australians Agency (2024) Measure 1.01 Birthweight - Implications, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed [insert date].
If there is no citation attached to the subsection, then the overarching page citation is appropriate.
Tables:
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare ([insert year of latest update]). Measure 1.01 Birthweight - Data tables, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed [insert date].
Acknowledgements
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the National Indigenous Australians Agency worked collaboratively to prepare content for the website, in particular the Health Performance Framework Unit (AIHW) and the Socio-Economic Analytics Lab (NIAA).
The HPF reporting process is overseen by a Steering Committee made up of First Nations representatives and other stakeholders. These include:
- a First Nations person as Chair
- the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
- the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- the National Indigenous Australians Agency
- the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
- representatives from two or three State/Territory Governments
- two or three non government representatives with data expertise relating to First Nations peoples.
We acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia, and acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures, and the elders past, present and emerging. We would like to thank Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people for their assistance in the collection of data, without which this report would not have been possible.
We would also like to thank all of the individuals, communities, government agencies and organisations that provided valuable input to the website development and updates:
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Standing Committee
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, and all government agencies of the Commonwealth and the States and Territories that provided input into the report
- individuals with expertise in particular topics from various organisations who reviewed draft material
- Gilimbaa for providing artwork and graphic design.
Artwork story
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The original description of the artwork is as follows:
The artwork for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing ‘The Culture of Healing’ brings together many people from Government to community all across Australia to address the theme of health and wellbeing for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.The ‘Health Plan’ is a whole of government approach, the aim of which is to initiate genuine discussion, solutions and community driven outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the area of health. |
The foundation of the artwork is set in a grid pattern. Each area consists of different cultural markings and motifs from the Torres Straits and across mainland Australia. These markings are the tracks left by the Rainbow Serpent, the Creation Spirit, and they represent the diversity of country. The lines that make up the grid formation are the navigational pathways and meeting places. Three stars represent these navigational pathways for Government and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The plant and animal motifs represent traditional health and wellbeing – ‘bush tucker’.
The central figures represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait ancestors who teach us the traditional ways so we can keep our culture strong today and into the future. The circular motif towards the bottom of the artwork represents Government and communities coming together in discussion, working together to create better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The inner circle represents the Government from the Minister, to staff and other stakeholders and moving outwards to the Communities. The ‘U’ shaped motifs represent people seated in discussion, or a ‘Yarning Circle’.
The pathways that lead out from these people represent the expertise and cultural knowledge and understanding that each individual brings to the table of their family, their community and their people and how the ‘Health Plan’ can best benefit them for a happier, healthier and brighter future together.