The Federal Government has allocated $1.2 billion in funding towards improving outcomes for First Nations people in the budget, with a major focus on employment and health.
$299 million will go towards doubling the number of jobs available under the Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program, bringing the total number of jobs up to 6,000.
Meanwhile, nearly $220 million will go towards delivering the nation's first standalone plan to end violence against Indigenous women and children
Our Ways - Strong Ways - Our Voices was launched earlier this year and is a decade long strategy that will guide actions towards ending violence against First Nations women and children.
40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) will also receive $167.6 million over the next four years to deliver community led services for women and families experiencing domestic violence.
The Federal Government is also aiming to ease cost of living pressures in remote communities, with $27 million going towards expanding the Low-Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme to all 225 remote stores across Australia.
The scheme aims to lower the cost of 30 essential grocery items such as rice, nappies, and tinned vegetables - which are often much more expensive in remote parts of the country compared to urban areas.
$144 million will go towards improving health infrastructure for Aboriginal community controlled health services, and $113 million will go towards improving education outcomes.
Of that $113 million, $55 million will go to the Clontarf Foundation to extend its school support engagement program for young First Nations men.
And crisis care support service 13YARN will receive $19 million in funding over the next four years to expand its services, with the hotline reporting a huge increase in demand since the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum.
Concerns First Nations people left behind
Independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe welcomed parts of the budget, but said the government had overall "failed to deliver" on several key areas such as justice and healing for First Nations people.
"The government failed to properly invest in healing and self-determined solutions led by our people, or measures to prevent our people being criminalised and harmed," she said.
The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman said there needed to be funding put towards implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and more funding for legal and diversion services.
"The government talks constantly about Closing the Gap, but you cannot close the gap while underfunding the services and solutions that our communities know work," she said.
"This budget also continues Labor's record of underfunding of the legal assistance sector, with literally no additional support for struggling services, which are being forced to turn away those in need."
However Senator Thorpe welcomed news that Stolen Generations survivors would have their redress scheme payments exempt from residential aged care asset testing, describing it as an "important step towards justice for our Elders".
"Stolen Generations redress payments are meant to acknowledge the immense harm caused by governments forcibly removing our children," she said.
"They should never have been treated as money to be clawed back through the aged care system."
The nation's peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children was also critical of the budget, calling it a missed opportunity.
SNAICC - National Voice for our Children argued the budget failed to support several evidence based community led programs.
“At a time when our children, families and services are facing increasing and often unwarranted scrutiny, it’s disheartening to see the Federal Government failing to back programs we know will huge difference in our communities,” said SNAICC's CEO Catherine Liddle.
However, Ms Liddle welcomed the funding put towards the Our Ways - Strong Ways - Our Voices plan to end family violence.
"This investment recognises what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have always known, that lasting change comes when solutions are led by our people, grounded in culture, and designed with children, families and communities at the centre" she said.
“While there is the odd bright spot, given the government has said this was the budget to address generational fairness it's missed the mark to address many issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander families and the organisations that support them.”
