The apology to the Stolen Generations was never meant as the end of the story, rather the beginning of a new chapter, the Prime Minister will say in his speech on the 17th anniversary of Kevin Rudd's parliamentary apology.

A day after a Healing Foundation report found only six per cent of the recommendations from the Bring Them Home inquiry have been enacted, the Prime Minister will say the apology in 2008 was a day to tell survivors: "We hear you".

"It was a day of catharsis that held the promise of a fresh beginning.

"The Apology could not have happened without your courage. Nor would we have had the annual report card that is Closing the Gap."

More than 60 survivors will attend a breakfast on Thursday morning, "To come together to remember, make connections and heal".

Mr Albanese will use his speech to highlight the failures of previous governments in not recognising survivors and their trauma earlier.

"Those, like John Howard, who argued it would divide were wrong. Australians were united in a moment of fundamental decency.

"When the Apology was formally offered here – in this very institution that had so often let you down – only one question remained: Why didn't we do it sooner?"

The 1997 Bringing Them Home inquiry found "Indigenous families and communities have endured gross violations of their human rights. These violations continue to affect Indigenous people's daily lives.".

"They were an act of genocide, aimed at wiping out Indigenous families, communities, and cultures, vital to the precious and inalienable heritage of Australia."

It is estimated that as many as one-in-three Indigenous children were stolen from their families between 1910 and the 1970s as part of official government assimilationist policies.

In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of all Australians to survivors, for the "laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians".

"We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country," Mr Rudd said.

Peter Dutton, now leader of the Opposition, boycotted the apology in 2008.

Governments from both sides of politics have been criticised for their inaction to lead meaningful change on the removal of children, with the latest data revealing 1-in-15 First Nations children are taken from their homes.

In Victoria, it is one-in-eight.

Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe told Parliament on Wednesday: "Sorry means you don't do it again."

"In the Northern Territory, we're seeing a calculated reversal of progress, with the government moving to dismantle the Aboriginal child placement principle, which ensures our children stay connected to kin, culture, and Country," she said.

"It's a return to the genocidal policy of assimilation."

Just under 23,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were in out-of-home care last year, representing 41 per cent of all children placed in care across the country.

Chair of Children's Ground, William Tilmouth, said on Wednesday that "remorse is not enough," when it comes to supporting First Nations children. "Political leaders must do more."

"If our children aren't being removed by welfare, they are being imprisoned," he said.

"The child protection system is broken and provides wholly inadequate protections for our children's safety. Why do governments continue to place First Nations children in this system at record rates?"

He said First Nations-led solutions exist, and are shown to help close the gap. Routinely, he argued, they are ignored.

"We are terrified that history is repeating itself. We know this fate can be prevented for our children and grandchildren," Mr Tilmouth said.

The Labor government has advocated for First Nations-led approaches to closing the gap, which have been opposed by Opposition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

On Monday, the government announced 30 essential items in 76 remote community stores across Australia will be the same price as in cities, and that warehouse capacity will be boosted to make remote community supply chains less vulnerable.

The announcement came on the 18th year of Closing the Gap, with 2024 data revealing only five targets are on track.

In his speech on Thursday, Mr Albanese will argue a new chapter of self-determination must be written, in which Indigenous people have the same choices in Australia as non-Indigenous people.

"The new chapter must be an Australia in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the same choices as non-Indigenous Australians," he will argue.

"An Australia in which the government works carefully with you towards a future in which Indigenous Australians have the economic security of a job and a home."