Literacy rates almost doubling for some Northern Territory indigenous students is up there with the best Christmas present Mick Gooda could have wished for.
"I think of it as one of the greatest Christmas presents you can get as a nation to say in the Northern Territory we have doubled the literacy rate," the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner said.
"Like, how cool is that?"
The latest NAPLAN results show reading improvement results of indigenous students who were in year 3 in 2011 and are now in year 5 have almost doubled.
Across Australia, the reading rates for indigenous students in the same age group have gone up 20 percentage points.
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Mr Gooda said the results should encourage taxpayers, who don't mind contributing to indigenous affairs but want results.
"Those kids that have doubled their literacy rate are now going to be able to exercise choices they didn't know about as they grow into adults," he said.
With the constant churn of various programs, strategies and initiatives, Mr Gooda said he worried about his "mob" getting impatient for change.
"If our mob get too impatient with this and demand change because it is not going quick enough then the government will change and go to something new."
