Over the weekend the Prime Minister broke another political commitment and managed to do it while he was not even at work.

Anthony Albanese is enjoying a rare period of leave in the top job, meaning he was unable to attend the annual Garma festival in the Northern Territory outback as he’d promised to do.

Just 12 months ago at the event in north-east Arnhem Land he had declared: “I commit here that every single year that I have the great honour to be Australia’s Prime Minister, I will be here and engaged with you”.

“This is a journey that has a long way to go,” he told Indigenous leaders gathered for Garma in 2025. But just weeks before this year’s event he confirmed he was pulling out.

“I will be on leave at that time, but I will be at another festival in the Northern Territory in the coming days,” he told ABC Radio in July.

“I’ve been to Garma every year that it’s been held since I’ve been Labor leader in 2019.”

Only three months after the alleged abduction and murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby near Alice Springs, it was a notable promise to break for a PM strongly committed to “reconciliation and working in genuine partnership with First Nations people”.

The disappearance of the five-year-old Indigenous girl from a town camp in April shocked the nation and prompted pledges of action from political leaders across all levels of government, but at the first Garma to be held since, the PM did not show.

In his absence other senior Albanese Government figures went, including Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Education Minister Jason Clare, Early Education Minister Jess Walsh, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek.

All six of the Federal ministers have responsibility for key areas in Closing the Gap targets, established to address the vast inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous lives.

Efforts to close the gap began in 2008 when then-prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generations, and his government devised a strategy to improve the life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

But the latest data from the Closing the Gap Annual Data Compilation report, released last week, reveals that for many crucial indicators the problem is getting worse as State and Federal governments fail to make progress.

During her keynote speech to the Garma festival, the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro did not mention her Country Liberal Party Government’s contentious child protection laws, sparked in part by the tragic death of Kumanjayi Little Baby.

Instead, the new conservative Territory leader announced an Aboriginal land tenure agreement aimed at securing the long-term future of the Nhulunbuy township as the Rio Tinto mine prepares to wind down in 2029.

Meanwhile Federal Labor backbencher Kate Thwaites, who also headed north on the weekend, proudly revealed: “I’ve spent the last couple of days at Garma talking about how we support the clean energy transition in First Nations communities”.

“It was great to also bring in conversations with Pacific leaders about supporting their communities, including through the upcoming COP,” the Albanese Government’s Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience wrote on social media.

For Indigenous elders in the NT grappling with high rates of incarceration, worsening Closing the Gap targets and extreme economic disadvantage, the United Nations Conference of Parties climate talks are unlikely to be front of mind.

This year however expect to hear much more discussion from the Albanese Government about COP as it prepares to co-host the UN climate talks along with Turkey and Pacific nations.

While the Prime Minister takes several days of leave ahead of Parliament’s return next week, he’s expected to soon begin a brutal schedule of overseas travel for the remainder of the year during the so-called global summit season for world leaders.

In the coming months Albanese is likely to face pressure to attend the Pacific Islands Forum, the United Nations General Assembly, the pre-COP talks in Fiji, the APEC Summit and a G20 meeting.

A prime minister’s diary can often give valuable insights into a government’s priorities.

Three years on from Anthony Albanese’s failed referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the greater emphasis for the PM is now likely to be meetings with world leaders, including climate change talks hosted by Australia.