More than $420m will be spent on a new plan providing clean water, food security and housing to Indigenous Australians, the government will announce today.
The next step in the Closing the Gap implementation plan accompanies the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) annual implementation plan.
The dual announcement is part of a “practical action” plan the government has promised to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia while some targets, such as children’s school readiness, child-removal rates and incarceration rates went backwards, and other measures have faced repeated delays.
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, said “foundational work” had been completed over the past two years, and “now we can really turn our efforts towards real action and real change”.
“We saw the outcomes in the 2022 Closing the Gap Annual Report and know that we need to be doing more as a government,” Burney said.
“Our measures are going to be more specific and more targeted, making real impacts that complement work underway in states and territories, and back-in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations to lead work in their communities.”
The Coalition of Peaks lead convenor and chief executive of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Pat Turner, welcomed the commitments to accelerate the priority reforms.
“We have decades of underinvestment in our communities and organisations to be addressed and this funding will go some way to overturning that,” she said.
The implementation plan, released under the name of three ministers, Burney, Jason Clare and Tanya Plibersek, along with the assistant minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, covers water, housing, education, legal assistance and support for women and families experiencing violence, with a particular focus on rural and remote communities.
The funding is in addition to the $1.2bn announced in the October budget and will be delivered through formal partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities, with support from state, territory and local governments.
It includes accelerating the implementation of the four priority reforms in the national agreement; formal partnerships and shared decision making, building the community-controlled sector, transforming government controlled organisations and shared access to data and information at a regional level.
The Closing the Gap statement has also been restored to its original place at the start of the parliamentary year, after the Morrison government moved it to August.
McCarthy said this first implementation plan under Labor was designed to “help turn the tide towards more Indigenous Australians living longer, healthier and happier lives”.
“The substantial investment in clean drinking water, remote housing and food security will be a game changer for so many Indigenous Australians who live out in bush communities,” she said.
“Together, this comprehensive support will help build stronger families and communities today, and ensure future generations can get the best start to life and achieve their full potential.
”
The statement will be delivered on Monday, which coincides with the the 15th anniversary of the national apology Kevin Rudd made to Indigenous Australians, particularly those of the stolen generations.
