The federal government has announced $30m in funding for further training for Indigenous rangers, which it suggested would also lead to an increase in numbers.
The Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, made the funding announcement in the north-east Arnhem Land town of Nhulunbuy on Wednesday, after visiting the Dhimurru Rangers group.
Rangers are funded through the Working On Country program, launched by the Howard government in 2006, to train and employ Indigenous people as environmental rangers on traditional country, Indigenous protected areas and some national park areas.
Scullion said the four-year $30m package, funded through the Indigenous advancement strategy, would open up new employment opportunities and promote the role of Indigenous rangers in managing country and “take advantage of … new opportunities” in biosecurity and border protection. It would also create new job pathways to get young Indigenous people into the roles.
“Indigenous ranger groups are already involved in joint operations and surveillance contracts with a range of government regulatory agencies,” he said. “The government’s investment will also ensure there are more job pathways for Indigenous rangers – providing a practical investment to increase the number of Indigenous rangers looking after land and sea country.”
The announcement did not specific how many new jobs would be created by the increase and follows consistent campaigns for certainty, as well as calls to expand the program to 2030 and double the numbers.
Scullion has previously announced ranger groups’ general funding would continue for another two years past 2018.
Labor this week repeated its pledge to double the number of Indigenous rangers across the country, should they get into government. The NT Labor government has also announced increased support to ranger groups in the NT.
Patrick O’Leary of the Pew Charitable Trust welcomed Scullion’s announcement.
“The key is to always work with groups on the ground who have to work in remote areas,” he said. “Ultimately it has to be a shared plan that those groups can own, that they can then deliver.”
Scullion also reiterated a commitment in the federal budget to ongoing funding of the Indigenous protected area program for another five years, as revealed by Guardian Australia last week. It remains unclear if the funding will match the previous five years.
“We and the Indigenous groups we work with on the ground are really keen to see the detail, when the contracts are to be extended and what it means for funding on the ground because there’s certainly room for growth in the IPA network, and this extension is a positive thing,” O’Leary said.
