Australia has further improved on the social condition of its indigenous population four years after the country expressed its deep regret over the disadvantages suffered by the nation's original settlers.

"We are also now generally on track to meet the target to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievement for indigenous children by 2018," Prime Minister Julia Gillard reported to the Parliament on Wednesday.

Out of the six objectives outlined by the government on its 'Closing the Gap' program, two were making considerable headways, Ms Gillard said.

Mortality rates of indigenous children have so far improved and more school-age kids were given access to education, especially those situated in far-flung areas, Ms Gillard said.

The government envisions more of these kids to attend school over the next two years and drastically reduce the number of deaths among newborns by 2018, ideally by up to 50 percent, Ms Gillard said.

And such goals can only be achieved by accelerating national efforts to bridge the gap on indigenous disadvantage, especially in the area of education, the Prime Minister told her colleagues.

Her report showed that retention rates in Year 12 soared from 30 percent in 1995 to 47 percent in 2010, with the government aiming to fill the gap on that area by up to 50 percent over the next nine years.

Ms Gillard also reported that overall mortality rates improved on indigenous populations settled in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory as of 2010, while admitting that further reducing death rates among the indigenous remains the biggest challenge for the government.

The Prime Minister added that in order to effectively bridge the gap between Australia's indigenous and non-indigenous population, the nation needs to embrace two form of reconciliations, that of symbolic and practical.

Such healing is better displayed with the nation providing the most basic of needs to its people, especially the indigenous population who must be given equal access to education, health and employment opportunities, Ms Gillard said.

On his part, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was happy to note that the country now better appreciates the plight of indigenous Australians and getting them to school, he added, at an early age was a good start for Australia to achieve full reconciliation.

Delivering education to remote communities serves as the nation's concrete efforts to establish civil societies among the indigenous people, Abbott said.

"So often when we hear the statistics there is a nagging sense that they can obscure as much as they reveal ... but it's another thing to ensure all the youngsters are attending schools," Abbott added.