Silence on truth and treaty, regional voices scrapped
The government has ditched the ‘regional and local voices’ and excluded truth-telling and treaty-making from the budget.
A leftover $20m from the failed voice referendum will be redirected to more practical programs to close the gap as the government excludes mention of truth and treaty from the budget message.
While The Australian understands Labor had been considering progressing regional and local voices – which would not have required constitutional change or even legislative reform – the budget revealed the government had ultimately ditched the idea and focused instead on a multibillion-dollar suite of practical measures for Indigenous Australians.
The decision to scrap local and regional voices comes ahead of the establishment of a grassroots regional voice mechanism in the Kimberley, which Uphold and Recognise chair Sean Gordon told The Australian would be set up by the end of the year.
“The government will redirect $20m over two years … towards other priorities within the Indigenous Australians portfolio by not proceeding with local and regional voice arrangements, consistent with the outcome of the 2023 referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice,” budget papers revealed.
And despite vocal debate between Indigenous leaders over what should be done with the $5.8m set aside in the 2022 budget for the Makarrata Commission – which would oversee treaty making and truth telling – no answers were provided on budget night by Jim Chalmers or Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on government plans for the body.
Anthony Albanese told parliament earlier this year Labor would “take the time” to get a Makarrata Commission right, refusing to scrap the commitment to the body from the party’s platform after promising on election night to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart – which includes Makarrata – in full.
Under a suite of practical measures for Indigenous Australians, Labor will pump $770m into establishing a program aimed at creating 3000 remote jobs and helping income support recipients move into paid employment, while also injecting $700m into remote housing in the Northern Territory to curb overcrowding.
Despite the Western Australian government last week urging for more funding for housing in the most remote areas of the state, the budget focused on repairing the NT’s remote housing stock and building up to 270 homes a year there.
“Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in overcrowded and rundown houses. These crowded living conditions are driving poor health, educational, economic and social outcomes,” Ms Burney said. “The Albanese government is providing immediate support to the area of greatest need in remote Northern Territory, where the problem of overcrowding is most acute.”
A further $500m was allocated to a range of initiatives including nearly $95m towards combating communicable diseases in First Nations communities, $74.8m to develop a new National First Nations Education Policy, $11.1m to broaden access to affordable medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and nearly $6m to establish the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People.
The funding follows Closing The Gap data released this year showing outcomes for Indigenous Australians going backwards in several key areas, with incarceration and suicide rates rising.
Tuesday’s budget invested nearly $13m in suicide prevention, which will go towards funding initiatives such as the Indigenous Youth Connection Culture program in 12 communities.
More than $76m will fund the establishment of a new First Nations “prison to employment program”, while more than $15m will go towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services.
More Coverage
Terror disbandment underscores Bali bombings anniversary
‘Amid that terrible darkness, the terrorists could not break the spirit of humanity’, the PM said as he commemorated the Bali bombings.
Price blasts PM on failures, one year on from voice vote
Indigenous senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says the Albanese government has no interest in listening to marginalised Indigenous people and continues to fail on Aboriginal policy.