Rolling coverage of the Federal Budget and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health and wellbeing

This post includes Budget news for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, and reactions from across the sector.

• Budget papers
• Department of Health and Aged Care budget links
• Statement by Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney
• Women’s Budget statement

The Federal Government has highlighted new investments in remote jobs and housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, plus funding for suicide prevention and chronic health, as measures in the Budget to “accelerate progress to close the gap” in Indigenous health and wellbeing outcomes.

In a statement, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney outlined the following:

Tackling housing overcrowding

• Ten-year $4 billion joint investment between the Australian and NT Governments to support delivery of up to 270 houses each year, and deliver repairs and maintenance to existing housing.
• $120 million over three years for housing improvements and essential infrastructure upgrades to NT Homelands.
• A Partnership Agreement, to be established between the Australian and NT Governments, Aboriginal Housing NT, and the four NT Aboriginal Land Councils.
• $1 million to Aboriginal Housing NT over two years, to support their role in the Partnership Agreement, and support development of a Community-Controlled Housing Model.

Health and wellbeing

• $12.8 million in suicide prevention, including the Indigenous Youth Connection Culture program (Suicide Prevention) for 12 communities.
  $10 million to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) to deliver targeted and culturally appropriate mental health supports.
• $11.1 million over five years from 2023-24 to expand coverage of the Closing the Gap Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Co-payment Program to all PBS medicines, broadening access to affordable PBS medicines for First Nations people living with, or at risk of, chronic disease.
• $94.9 million over two years to support management of communicable disease control in First Nations communities.
• $12.5 million over four years to NACCHO to facilitate community-led distribution of menstrual products in regional and remote First Nations communities where they are expensive and hard to access.

Jobs

• $777 million Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program (replacing the CDC) is on track to start later this year: all about self-determination through economic opportunity and community development.

Education

$74.8 million over four years to develop a new National First Nations Education Policy, extend a number of First Nations education programs, and provide partnership funding to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation and SNAICC – National Voice for our Children.

• $32.8 million over the 2025 school calendar year for the Clontarf Foundation to continue to school engagement programs for First Nations boys and young men.
• $2.4 million over three years to implement the First Nations Teacher Strategy to increase the number of First Nations teachers in schools.

Justice

• $76.2 million over five years to establish a new First Nations Prison to Employment Program.
• $10.7 million to the Justice Policy Partnership, which will focus on reducing the rates of adult and youth incarceration and improving justice outcomes on the ground.
• $15.4 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and an additional $8.6 million to Family Violence Prevention Legal Services in 2024-25 to provide an urgent funding injection for legal assistance services, as part of the Attorney-General’s $44.1 million funding boost to the legal assistance sector.
• $4.6 million in one year to ensure service continuity for the Custody Notification Service, while future design of the service is considered in collaboration with First Nations stakeholders.

Stronger families

• $5.9 million over two years to establish of the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.
• $11.7 million over two years to extend the First Nations Family Dispute Resolution Pilot.

Read the Minister’s statement here.

Read: National Indigenous Times report: 2024 Federal Budget: Indigenous economic empowerment gets $774m focus

Below are responses from the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), Gayaa Dhuwi, Professor Pat Dudgeon, the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), SNAICC; Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM).

Some good news but the main challenge is closing the funding gap

NACCHO

The Commonwealth Budget contains some very welcome measures in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. But structural reform is what is really required and a longer-term commitment to close the funding gap is necessary if we want the health gap to improve.

In Cairns this morning, Donnella Mills, the Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) said, ‘The prelude to this Budget has been dominated by the mainstream and economic concerns. We understand that the Government is concerned with cost-of-living pressures, affordable housing, and domestic violence. We support all efforts in this regard. But we also acknowledge that it contains some important measures that will assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people and bring valuable relief to our sector.’

NACCHO welcomes the $12.8m in suicide prevention, $10m for mental health support, $11.1m to expand coverage of the Closing the Gap Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, $94.9m to combat communicable diseases in our communities, and $12.5m to facilitate community-led distribution of menstrual products in regional and remote First Nations communities. These are all important announcements.

Donnella Mills said, ‘These provide a critical first step after the failed Referendum last year. The Government needs to get a positive dialogue happening in the wake of all the misinformation and hostility that we lived through. The best way of doing that is to invest in our communities and fund the responsibly costed package of proposals that NACCHO puts forward each year.’

‘Why should Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people expect to live lives 8-9 years less than other Australians?’ asked the acting CEO of NACCHO, Dr Dawn Casey.

In Canberra this morning, she said, ‘Despite all the myths you heard in the Referendum about wasted expenditure, the cold hard fact of the matter is that there is a health funding gap of $4.4 billion each year for our people. That equates to about $5,000 per Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person. The Commonwealth’s share of that gap is $2.6 billion. So, we have a simple challenge to work through with the Government: let’s agree on a plan to close the funding gap, if we are ever to close the health gap?.’

NACCHO is also looking forward to bunkering down behind the seminal National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The Productivity Commission’s report showed that most government agencies are fumbling in their efforts to implement it and seem not to understand the necessary structural reform that the Prime Minister and eight premiers and chief ministers signed up to in 2020. We see the Agreement as an important mechanism to help close the gap.

Donnella Mills said, ‘As we have been denied a Voice, it is up to NACCHO and our counterparts to advocate for our sectors. The main message we have for governments, at the moment, is to work with us in closing the funding gap and let’s continue to work together to get the National Agreement firing.’

Bitter disappointment: Commonwealth Budget compounds Voice failure

Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council

The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) is bitterly disappointed the Commonwealth Budget did not do more for the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people.

“This budget is a missed opportunity following the failed referendum and the continued underperformance of Close the Gap measures,” QAIHC Chairman Matthew Cooke said.

“The Budget should have provided a watershed moment for the Albanese Government. With a 9-billion-dollar budget surplus, the Government could have made real investments to deliver on the promise to Close the Gap by 2031, a promise which fades further away each day.

“Yes, the Commonwealth has made some investments in Indigenous health, particularly in very remote parts of Australia; but more must be done to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“Our people live in our towns and cities, not just remote communities. Wherever they live, we must invest more in their health and wellbeing. We’ve got to ensure they don’t continue to experience the systemic racism so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face when attending mainstream health services.

“The Federal Budget delivered a $9.3 billion surplus. The Commonwealth must strengthen partnerships with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Community-Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) sector to drive better outcomes for our people.

“Let’s be clear, spending on 29 new urgent care clinics is not an investment in comprehensive primary health care, it’s more band aid medicine. They’ve created 29 more opportunities to cut a ribbon, but when will this government get serious about preventative health?

“The government should have made concrete investments to significantly increase funding through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme and respond to the findings of the recent Productivity Commission review on progress of Closing the Gap. We need more regional and local place-based investment. While real investment in social and emotional wellbeing is needed, the Government’s approach to investment contributes to the confetti shower of inadequate and piecemeal funding.

“Here in Queensland, it’s time to invest in building and strengthening our ACCHOs, and the structures that empower First Nations communities to provide local, culturally safe, health solutions.

“The ACCHO sector already provides primary health care to the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland. The sector must be properly funded and resourced.”

Mr Cooke said the Commonwealth needed to:

1. Invest in health equity. In Queensland, this means committing substantial funding to ACCHOs to implement health equity strategies that address the health disparities faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
2. Invest in Closing the Gap. The Commonwealth must make genuine investments in community-controlled solutions to address the social and health challenges we continue to confront. Empower Indigenous communities to lead the way in shaping their own futures.
3. Reform funding mechanisms to recognise the role of ACCHOs. ACCHOs currently receive most of their funding through fragmented grant funding arrangements and a flawed MBS system. Our people don’t benefit from the PBS in the way most other Australians do. The Commonwealth needs to reform the MBS, PBS and National Health Reform Agreement so ACCHOs are recognised and acknowledged as an integral part of our health system and new investments made to allow ACCHOs to play a greater role in health service delivery. New funding mechanisms will create opportunities for services to partner with ACCHOs to deliver health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. They will also create opportunities to improve income through MBS and ensure First Nations people have much better access to prescription medicines.
4. Act decisively for meaningful reform. The Commonwealth must act decisively to bring about meaningful reform, addressing the structural and systemic inequalities that persist. Meaningful reform is essential for achieving a just and equitable Australia for all.

Mr Cooke said QAIHC would continue to lobby the Commonwealth to invest in our community-controlled health sector. ACCHOs must be critical partners in delivering health services and solutions that were culturally safe and suited to their communities.

“We have always held that the best primary health care happens in culturally safe settings controlled by local communities, who are best placed to understand the needs of those closest to them. We will continue our work to be a state and national voice for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Queensland, advocating for accessible and equitable comprehensive primary health care, and supporting our Members on the ground to make an impact in their communities,” he said

Mr Cooke said QAIHC looked forward to working with the Commonwealth to deliver solutions that were community-led and co-designed.

“We are committed to working collaboratively with the Commonwealth to build a better future,” he said.

It will help – but more is needed

Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory

The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) expressed cautious support for last night’s Federal Government Budget 2024-25, but said more needs to be done.

AMSANT CEO John Paterson said: “There are a number of positives in last night’s Federal Budget. However, it failed to deliver a comprehensive commitment to Closing the Gap. It was a missed opportunity put in place the fundamental reforms recommended by the Productivity Commission in their recent Review of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.”

However, Mr Paterson welcomed a number of the budget’s health measures, particularly:

• $24.6 million to establish a medical school at Charles Darwin University, a measure that AMSANT has been advocating for some time in recognition that medical graduates who train in the Northern Territory are much more likely to stay and practice here,
• $95 million to support communicable disease control in First Nations communities,
• $22 million for suicide prevention and mental health,
• $11 million to expand coverage of the Closing the Gap PBS Co-payment Program to all PBS medicines, and
• $90 million to implement the recommendations of the Kruk review of the regulation of overseas health practitioners, given the reliance of Aboriginal community controlled health services on these staff.

He continued: “The Budget also confirmed the recent announcement of $4 billion to improve housing in remote Northern Territory communities and $1 billion from the Australian and Northern Territory Governments for NT public schools. Housing and education are very important determinants of health and the previous lack of progress in these areas has held back health improvements for our people. These funds have the potential to be game-changers. But they must be administered effectively, transparently and with formal Aboriginal oversight to ensure that they are effective. We were also pleased to see investment in a prison to employment program.”

Mr Paterson was critical, however, of the Budget’s failure to increase the rate of JobSeeker.

“JobSeeker payments are entitlements due to all Australian citizens, but the fortnightly payments are well below the poverty line, especially in remote communities where healthy food is prohibitively expensive for many Aboriginal families. In these places, poverty is increasing, inequality widening, and access to healthy food falling. This is unacceptable in a wealthy country like Australia. The remote allowance as part of Job Seeker goes nowhere near providing for the extra costs associated with living in very remote communities and this allowance is not indexed and has not increased for many years.”

“The budget has also not sought to close the health funding gap for Aboriginal health. Given an increasing burden of chronic complex illness and rising costs, it is imperative that this gap is addressed as soon as possible.”

Mr Paterson concluded by thanking the Federal Government for those measures that will help close the gap in health. But he also sounded a note of caution: “The health gap is closing in the Northern Territory, but too slowly. Our people are still living their lives much sicker and dying much earlier than non-Indigenous Territorians. More needs to be done.”

Appropriate funding for social and emotional wellbeing needed

Gayaa Dhuwi

Following the delivery of the 2024-25 Budget, Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia welcomed funding for trauma-informed and culturally safe mentoring and assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people engaged in the justice system, as well as funding to continue delivery of targeted and culturally appropriate mental health supports.

However, Gayaa Dhuwi is again calling for the Federal Government to appropriately fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention, as there was no mention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing and mental health programs that exist beyond the health system.

“The Budget papers are disappointing, but not surprising”, said Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia CEO Ms Rachel Fishlock.

“We need to be looking beyond the health system and supporting the social and emotional wellbeing and mental health of our people before they are in justice or acute crisis situations.

“The work of Gayaa Dhuwi aims to ensure our people enjoy high levels of social and emotional wellbeing, particularly through the implementation of the Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration. We’ll never close the gap without appropriately funded social and emotional wellbeing and mental health programs.”

“Our people have experienced a failed referendum, COVID, cost of living pressures, and natural disasters, all while dealing with the intergenerational impacts of colonisation”, said Professor Helen Milroy, Chair of Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, workforce, and community are working tirelessly to be present, lead, and excel within Australia’s mental health system and beyond it, but we can’t do it without appropriate funding”.

The Closing the Gap Annual Report and Implementation Plan, delivered in February 2024, included funding to continue the Social and Emotional Wellbeing Policy Partnership and cultural safety, trauma-aware and healing-informed training material for aged care providers, however there was no mention of the Gayaa Dhuwi Declaration Framework and Implementation Plan – a key document that turns the aspirations of the Gayaa Dhuwi Declaration into tangible actions.

Media are reminded of the importance of abiding by the Good Yarn Guidelines when reporting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander matters, including the provision of 24/7 crisis helpline services: 13 YARN (139276); Brother to Brother crisis line (1800 435 799); Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800).

New measures to combat Indigenous suicide welcomed

Statement by Professor Pat Dudgeon, UWA

Leading Indigenous suicide prevention expert Professor Pat Dudgeon has welcomed important measures in the Federal Budget to address suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Professor Dudgeon, Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention at the University of Western Australia, said further commitment was needed to ensure the sustainability of key programs.

Professor Dudgeon welcomed the focus on systemic issues impacting Indigenous people, including a $10 million boost to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) to extend its online social and wellbeing resources and supports, which were initially funded in the context of the referendum on the Voice to Parliament and the rise in racism experienced by Indigenous people at that time.

“This funding acknowledges the lived experience of our people and the impact on our wellbeing of continuing discrimination and disadvantage,” she said. “I am pleased to see this funding extended under Indigenous leadership,” she said.

Professor Dudgeon also supported the $12.8 million allocated to the Indigenous Youth Connection to Culture Program, which is being trialled in 12 communities and promotes cultural connection to reduce youth suicide.

Co-designed with Indigenous Elders and youth, the program demonstrates a best-practice regional approach to suicide prevention, empowering communities to develop their own responses to local challenges, according to Professor Dudgeon.

“This is a positive model for communities,” she said. “Now we need to see it fully evaluated and funded so more regions can benefit.”

She also praised a $4.6 million allocation for culturally appropriate health and wellbeing checks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people taken into custody – when suicide risk is very high – but called for further measures to address the over-incarceration of Indigenous Australians.

Other Budget measures – including funding for a National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, culturally safe family dispute resolution services, Indigenous language learning and the return of cultural artefacts – would promote respect and pride in Indigenous cultures and enhance community wellbeing, Professor Dudgeon said.

The Budget did not address continuing funding for the $53 million Culture Care Connect program, the largest ever Indigenous-led mental health and suicide prevention initiative, which is delivered by NACCHO and its member organisations at 31 regional sites. Its current funding ends in June 2025.

“I look forward to further announcements about the long-term future of Culture Care Connect, which is an essential component of a culturally safe suicide prevention response for our people and strongly aligned to the recommendations of the forthcoming National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy,” Professor Dudgeon said.

The Budget also includes investment in mainstream mental health supports, including online services for people with less severe conditions, walk-in centres for adults with more complex issues, lived experience workforce development and service redesign for children and young people.

Professor Dudgeon said it was vital to ensure these initiatives were also accessible and culturally safe. “We welcome the investment in services that are specific to our communities, but all mental health provision in Australia should be welcoming and supportive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said.

Lacks vision, drive and support

VACCHO

A positive step, but not enough to close the gap

Coalition of Peaks

The nation’s peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander body says the Federal Budget contained some positive steps, but more will be needed to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life outcomes.

Coalition of Peaks Acting Lead Convenor, Catherine Liddle, said the measures contained in the budget were important, but would not solve everything.

“Funding for housing, education and health will be good for our People, but a holistic approach is needed to close the gap,” Ms Liddle said.

“The challenges our communities face are not isolated, they are deeply interconnected. Economic insecurity fuels domestic violence, a lack of investment in education fuels young people ending up in the justice system – nothing happens in isolation.

“A big bag of money for some sectors is not being wisely invested if other sectors are underfunded, because they are all pieces of the same puzzle and we need to figure out how they all work together.”

In February, a major Productivity Commission review found Federal, State and Territory Governments were failing in their commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

The review warned governments urgently needed to “close the gap between words and action” and end “government knows best” thinking when designing and implementing services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Ms Liddle said it was not just about what government funds, but how they implement it.

“We cannot close the gap unless governments change the way they work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We need genuine partnerships, not tick-a-box consultation,” she said.

“We need funding for Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, because they know how best to deliver services to their communities and get results.

“We need governments to fundamentally change how they work with our People, and eliminate the conscious and unconscious racism that too often characterises our interactions with government services.

“And we need access to, and the capability to use, the data and information necessary to set priorities and drive our own development.
“These are the priority reforms governments have committed to under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

“What has been announced in the budget is a welcome step, but ultimately what will drive sustainable change is for governments to fully fund and implement their Closing the Gap commitments.”

The budget will also redirect $20 million that had been allocated to the Voice.

Ms Liddle said any decisions about its reallocation should be in line with the Government’s commitment, under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, to share decision-making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“Any significant changes to the Indigenous Affairs policy agenda and decisions on taking forward elements of the Uluru Statement would be subject to an open and transparent process,” Ms Liddle said.

Utterly shameful

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS)

Aboriginal women and children’s rights and needs are silenced in this year’s Federal Budget

In a suite of family violence reforms announced at last night’s Federal Budget, the rights to safety and culturally safe legal support from Aboriginal women and children were invisible.

It is utterly shameful. This is a continuance of colonial violence against Aboriginal women, children and families.

Our lives matter, we will not stop fighting for our future.

VALS and the Aboriginal women, children and families we support have yet again been betrayed by the Albanese government. After a referendum that has detrimentally impacted Aboriginal Communities and seen a rise in racism in our communities, institutions and so-called places of safety coupled with increasing violence against women, it bewilders the mind that the Albanese government has not provided vital resources to ensure the voices of Aboriginal Communities can be protected and that they can access legal help where and when they need it.

VALS has been calling for an immediate injection of $50m through the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) to ensure we can provide culturally safe legal services to meet community needs. The Albanese government’s commitment of $44.1m to Community Legals Services, with $15.4m going to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS), less than 1/15th of which will go to Victoria. This will have little meaningful impact; it will do nothing to expand our service delivery nor restore critical services that have been cut partially or in full.

Instead, the Federal government invested more than double our funding ask into the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s (ACIC) National Criminal Intelligence System alongside improving information-sharing nationally. In March this year, ACIC reported a $10.2m surplus and $298.4m in total revenue in their most recent annual report. It is incomprehensible as to why identified Aboriginal community need was not respected when our services safe lives.

ATSILS must be fully funded to provide the services that our communities expect and deserve. This is in line with the Federal Government’s commitments under Closing the Gap and our right to self-determination.

The national crisis of violence against women requires investment in specialist responses including Aboriginal-led solutions. Aboriginal women are 45 times more likely to experience family violence than non-Indigenous women and at least 25 times more likely to killed or injured by a former or intimate partner. Family violence is not an ‘Aboriginal’ problem, the majority of clients that services such as Djirra supports are partnered with non-Indigenous men.

Services like VALS’ Balit Ngulu, a specialist youth program dedicated to providing legal assistance and representations to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, many of whom have also been impacted by family violence, and Baggarrook, an intensive support program for Aboriginal women transitioning from custody that are at high risk of homelessness and family violence as a direct response to the unique needs of our community.

Aboriginal services must be funded to provide the programs our community wants and needs. Sustainable and substantial funding that will allow Aboriginal organisations to self-determine our services will go a long way to achieving positive outcomes for our communities.

Our people, including our women and children, thrive when we are resourced to be able to self-determine our own futures. We had hoped that the collective outrage we are seeing, when every four days, a woman is murdered by an intimate or former partner would translate to a comprehensive suite of reforms that would benefit all women and children living in Australia, not dictated by the colour of their skin or their cultural background. All women and children deserve to be safe, and live a life free from violence.

We do not need another inquiry into family violence. We have the solutions; governments across all jurisdictions just need to listen. Family Violence providers and Community Legal Services have been chronically underfunded. The current needs-based calculation is reductive, and fails to reflect the high demand for legal assistance in Victoria. Aboriginal communities must have access legal help when they need it, where they are, this is in line with our rights as articulated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Too often we see that Aboriginal women are faced with an impossible situation of staying in a violent home, or leaving without secure, affordable and appropriate housing that meets the needs of her children. This risks returning to the violent relationship, or entering homelessness as well as the risk of child protection becoming involved.

VALS’ Civil and Human Rights Practice supports clients with including tenancy, victims of crime compensation, discrimination, employment, coronial matters, mental health tribunal, working with children check matters, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, disaster relief, infringements and consumer, credit, and debt. All of these issues can be amplified when also experiencing family violence and require a trauma-informed, coordinated, holistic response. Adequate, sustainable funding of specialist family violence and legal assistance services is fundamental and the Federal Government holds significant responsibility for this.

• We call on the Federal Government to proactively commit to accepting all recommendations from the inquiry into Missing and Murdered First Nations women and children.
• We call on the Federal Government to immediately release the NLAP Review, and accept all recommendations in full.
• We call on the Federal Government to commit to adequately implementing all relevant recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
• We call on the Federal Government to establish a Human Rights Act and commit to implementing the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples domestically.
• We call on the Federal Government to properly fund Aboriginal Legal Services to be able to provide advocacy services in a way that is responsive to community needs and enables self-determination so that we can have a stronger voice to make decisions on issues that affect us.
• We call on the Federal Government to amend the current needs-based calculation method to reflect the high demand for legal assistance across all regions of Victoria.
• We call on the Federal Govt to extend pay parity for our staff for future funding beyond this financial year, so that we can maintain quality, experienced lawyers and workforce security.

The Federal Government has an obligation to uphold their commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, the Uluru Statement of the Heart, and the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.

There must be sustainable, equitable, flexible and long-term funding and resourcing for Aboriginal legal services that is appropriately indexed, so we can ensure all Aboriginal people in Victoria have access to the legal help they need.

Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service said:

“Aboriginal women and children deserve to be safe, and our services are a critical part of a holistic, Aboriginal-led response to the ongoing crisis of family violence. Yet the Albanese government has decided to ignore the invaluable work of Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations and Aboriginal Legal Services such as VALS in providing Aboriginal-led solutions.”

“If we cannot adequately provide trauma-informed and holistic preventative support and interventions, alongside providing legal services and representation to those in need, we cannot address the underlying causes of family violence.”

“Last night’s budget announcement is a drop in the ocean for what ATSILS need to meet community needs and have meaningful impact. It is critical that we are funded to be able to continue providing the high-quality, holistic supports that our communities need.”

“The Federal Government’s lack of transparency around the future of our funding, including their decision to not publish the final report of the NLAP review until after the Federal Budget, is abhorrent. In a sector where vicarious trauma is high and our workers are vulnerable to burnout, we need stability and security to ensure that we can continue supporting our people to the best of our ability.”

“With support from allies in the sector, VALS has been able to lead the charge on key reforms needed to create a safter Victoria for Aboriginal people and all Victorians. Informed by our clients and communities, VALS has advocated and achieved remarkable outcomes such as repealing public drunkenness laws and replacing it with a health-based response, or the amendments to Bail laws that mean people will be safer and less likely to enter custody. VALS is a staunch advocate and we must be funded in a way that will allow us to continue upholding the rights of our communities.”

Welcome support

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children

Additional early years funding announced in the Federal Budget will support efforts to close the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children welcomed Budget 2024-25’s focus on education, with initiatives targeted towards new policy developments and program delivery.

“SNAICC is receiving dedicated funding for the first time, as is our sister peak, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation (NATSIEC),” SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said.

“A total of $29.1 million over 4 years, with $8.7 million per year ongoing, is earmarked for SNAICC and NATSIEC to partner with Government on issues impacting our children in early childhood and education.

“This will give us important ongoing stability, enabling us to continue bringing the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to the development of policies and programs that affect them.​

“The commitment to a wage rise for hard-working early childhood educators is also welcomed.

“We are also pleased to see $5.9 million over two years allocated to a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner.

“This backs up the commitment made by the Prime Minister in February to stand-up the Commissioner, which can oversee efforts to turn the tide for our children ending up in the child protection system.”

Ms Liddle said while the Budget contained welcome new funding, she was concerned at that some important early childhood initiatives were not included.

The Early Years Support program delivers critical tailored supports to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) in early childhood education and care.

A 3-year, $9 million dollar pilot program operating in three states, funding is due to cease in December.

“We are also disappointed that the Government has missed key opportunities to change the way they do business with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations through investing in Aboriginal-led decision making and partnerships.

“This was a key recommendation of the Productivity Commission’s review into the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

“As an example, investment of $14.3 million in line with the Early Years Strategy does not make any mention of allocating a proportion of this money for ACCOs.

“Investing in the early years sets our children and families up to thrive.

“An investment in removing the activity test, a barrier to vital early education services for our children, is also missing from this Budget.

“Get the early years right and we will not have to spend ever increasing millions on broken child protection and youth detention systems.

“Closing the gap starts with our children, and is where investment has the most impact.”

Watch this analysis by CATSINaM

See Croakey’s archive of articles on #HealthBudget2024