Budget Resources

Thomas Rossiter and Dr James Haughton

This article provides an overview of selected 2024–25 budget measures relating to First Nations. Some of the measures included in the Budget were previously announced in the February 2024 release of the 2023 Closing the Gap Annual report and 2024 Implementation plan (CTG 2024).

The budget measures should be considered in the context of the government’s recent statements on failing to meet key Closing the Gap targets, as well as the Productivity Commission’s 2024 Closing the Gap review report, as most measures directly target one or more lagging outcomes.

There were significant budget measures for housing, Native Title, cultural heritage, employment and to establish the Office of the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People. Tables 1 and 2 in the Appendix set out First Nations-related budget measures not discussed in this article.

The Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations welcomed the Budget, but stated:

We cannot close the gap unless governments change the way they work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people... ultimately what will drive sustainable change is for governments to fully fund and implement their Closing the Gap commitments.

Other stakeholders were more critical.

Unless otherwise noted, page numbers below refer to Budget measures: budget paper no. 2: 2024–25.

Figure 1 shows the total expenditure on First Nation-specific programs (not sub-programs) across all portfolios, with major components separated. The cumulative effect of new measures is an increase of approximately $298.0 million from 2023–24 to 2024–25 to a total of around $6.0 billion, with significant net increases in remote housing and programs in departments other than the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA). However, terminating National Partnerships and current projected declines in NIAA and housing spending mean spending is projected to decline across forward estimates. 

Figure 1       Nominal and real Indigenous-specific Australian Government spending from 2012–13 to 2027–28

Notes: (e) Current forward estimates period. For details on underlying calculations, see Sally McNicol and James Haughton, ‘Indigenous Affairs’, Budget Review 2023–24, Research paper series, (Canberra: Parliamentary Library, 2023).

Source: Parliamentary Library calculations from departmental Portfolio Budget Statements for those years’ final budget estimates) and the expenditure by function and sub-function data presented in Budget paper no. 1, various years.

Housing

The National Partnership on Remote Housing, which ran from 2008–18, directly funded states to construct and repair housing in remote communities. In the aftermath of this program, the Australian Government made one-off payments to states and territories, in the expectation that they would fund remote housing and maintenance in the future. In the NT, the Commonwealth continued to fund new housing, providing $661.7 million between 2018 and 2024 ($550 million in the original agreement, along with a one-year extension for 2023–24 worth $111.7 million, p. 1), with the NT Government providing infrastructure, management and maintenance. The 2024–25 Budget’s ‘Northern Territory homelands and housing’ measure (pp. 160–161), in combination with measures providing water, power and other infrastructure in remote communities (p. 56), may indicate that at least in the NT, the Australian Government is stepping back in to provide funding for maintenance and ongoing support.

The ‘homelands and housing’ measure provides $839.4 million over 5 years from 2023–24 (and $2.1 billion over 10 years from 2024–25) ‘to accelerate housing delivery in remote Northern Territory communities’ (p. 160). The majority of the $839.4 million funding for this program will be met from the NIAA’s existing budget, with $341.3 million in new funding from 2024–25 to 2027–28 (p. 160). The NT Government has also committed to match the Australian Government’s remote housing investment, bringing the total investment in remote housing to $4.0 billion (p. 161). This measure includes urgent repairs and maintenance of existing housing ($120.0 million over 3 years from 2024–25), as well as delivering an additional 49 houses under the existing Remote Housing Northern Territory Agreement ($20.0 million in 2023–24; Budget paper no. 2, p. 161).

After this policy was announced, states such as WA called for increased funding for their remote communities.

Land, heritage and culture

The Budget flags future changes to the Native Title Act 1993 and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984. Changes to the Native Title Act’s future act regime have long been called for, including by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) while in opposition in The engagement of traditional owners in the economic development of northern Australia and Destruction of Juukan Gorge: a way forward parliamentary committee reports. Changes to federal heritage laws were also recommended in the Juukan Gorge committee report. The ALP expressed a commitment to ‘effective protection’ of Aboriginal cultural heritage in its 2021 National Platform (p. 42). Initial consultations of cultural heritage laws took place during 2022. Changes to Australia’s heritage protection laws are likely to invite controversy, as seen in WA’s repealed Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021.

The provision of funding for further review and consultation may indicate that any legislation is likely to be pushed into the next parliamentary term. The 2024–25 Budget includes:

• $0.5 million over 2 years from 2024–25 to the Australian Law Reform Commission to review the future acts regime within the Native Title Act (p. 48)
• $17.7 million over 3 years from 2024–25 to reduce backlog and administer complex cultural heritage applications under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 and progress reform of Australia’s cultural heritage laws (p. 72)
• $20.2 million over 4 years from 2024–25 (and $3.6 million per year ongoing) to the Federal Court of Australia and the National Native Title Tribunal to preserve culturally and historically significant native title records and address the backlog of native title claims and post-determination disputes (p. 48).
• $10.3 million over 4 years from 2024–25 (and $2.7 million per year ongoing) to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, extending the Return of Cultural Heritage program to return First Nations cultural heritage material held in overseas collections to traditional owners and custodians (p. 158).

Health

None of the 2024 Closing the Gap outcomes related to First Nations health are ‘on track’ (CTG 2024, p. 12). While there is additional funding for some important areas, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation’s (NACCHO) response to the Budget highlights that a large funding gap makes reaching the Closing the Gap targets challenging. It states:

… 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.

The Budget provides funding for Charles Darwin University to establish a new medical school for the NT with 40 new commencing medical students per year from 1 January 2026 (p. 63). The ‘Health workforce’ measure (p. 111) includes complementary components:

• $4.7 million over 5 years from 2023–24 for the Northern Territory Medical Program to increase the number of First Nations medical practitioners and to address recruitment and retention challenges in the Northern Territory
• $4.0 million over 4 years from 2024–25 to the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association to continue to support First Nations doctors to become medical specialists.

Additional programs include:

• $12.5 million over 4 years to provide free menstrual hygiene products to rural and remote First Nations communities
• $10.0 million in 2024–25 for culturally appropriate mental health support services
• $12.8 million over 4 years for place-based mental-health supports through an extension to the Indigenous Youth Connection to Culture program (pp. 117, 132).

A significant portion of the ‘National strategies for bloodborne viruses and sexually transmissible infections – continuation and expansion’ measure is dedicated to funding First Nations-specific items. First Nations-specific measures account for $94.9 million of the $126.5 million funding for the measure (p. 118).

A number of other National Partnerships relating to First Nations Health, including for trachoma control, rheumatic fever, mosquito control in Tennant Creek, and oral and hearing health in the Northern Territory, are currently due to expire after 2024–25 (Federal financial relations: budget paper no. 3: 2024–25, pp. 37–38). Budget strategy and outlook: budget paper no. 1: 2024–25 states that ‘funding for terminating measures will be considered in future economic updates’ (p. 208).

Budget paper no. 3 also contains a $193.8 million agreement to deliver culturally appropriate primary health care in NT communities without Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (p. 39). This may be a redirection of existing Primary Health Care funding rather than new money.

Education

The Budget includes a $110.0 million measure over 4 years from 2024–25 (and $11.0 million per year ongoing) directly targeted at Closing the Gap outcomes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7: ‘Closing the Gap – education’ (p. 87). Of these outcomes, only outcome 3: ‘Children are engaged in high quality, culturally appropriate early childhood education in their early years’ is described as ‘on track’ in the CTG 2024 (pp. 18, 24).

The measure includes:

• $32.8 million over 2 years from 2024–25 for the Clontarf Foundation to extend its existing program supporting First Nations young men to attend and finish school
• $18.2 million over 4 years from 2024–25 (and $2.2 million per year ongoing) to develop a new First Nations education policy and engage with First Nations stakeholders
• $2.4 million over 3 years from 2024–25 to finalise and implement the First Nations Teacher Strategy to improve the attraction and retention of First Nations teachers.

There is also a 4-year funding commitment to work with 2 First Nations peak organisations: the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation and SNAICC – National Voice for our Children. This is in line with Closing the Gap Priority Reform 1 (formal partnerships and shared decision making).

Employment

In 2022, the ALP made a commitment to end the Community Development Program (CDP) and replace it with ‘a program with real jobs, proper wages and decent conditions’ (pp. 3, 14). The Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program was announced in February 2024, informed by 3 trial programs operating since 2022.  

The government’s new Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program involves $724.8 million in funding over 5 years from 2023–24 and will extend the CDP provider arrangements to 30 June 2025, when the new program commences. A NIAA factsheet states the new program will allow participants to access leave and superannuation, and be ‘simpler for community organisations to get involved and to manage’ (p. 2).

A Services Australia factsheet notes that the measure is not subject to any new legislation. This indicates that it is likely to be managed by contracting community organisations to provide employment, rather than through the social security/Work for the Dole system. However, future legislation may be required depending on how the new program interacts with social security and family assistance payments.

Justice

There is little new funding for justice and safety in the 2024–25 Budget, and funding is largely re-prioritised from previous programs, or from departmental re-prioritisation. Stakeholders such as Amnesty International have released criticism for not increasing the October 2022–23 Budget’s justice reinvestment package of $81.5 million to meet the Closing the Gap targets (p. 49).

Closing the Gap outcome 10: ‘Adults are not overrepresented in the criminal justice system’ is ‘worsening, not on track’ according to the CTG 2024 (p. 38). Three measures from the 2024–25 Budget are directly address aimed at improving this assessment:

•  $10.7 million is provided over 4 years from 2024–25 to continue funding for the Justice Policy Partnership – one of the 5 policy partnerships established under Priority Reform One of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (Budget paper no. 2, p. 48).

• The ‘First Nations prison to employment program’ expands and replaces the Time to Work Employment Service Program. The measure provides funding of $76.2 million over 5 years from 2023–24 and $18.7 million per year ongoing) (Budget paper no. 2, p. 93).
• Australian Government funding for the Custody Notifications Service (CNS) in the NT, WA, SA, Victoria, NSW and the ACT is extended for 1 year ($4.6 million in 2024–25; Budget paper no. 2, p. 158). The CNS provides culturally appropriate health and wellbeing checks when an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person is taken into police custody. An evaluation of the CNS is currently underway.

The government will provide funding of $5.9 million over 2 years from 2024–25 to establish interim arrangements for the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People (National Commissioner). The government notes that this measure will require legislation (p. 171). The CTG 2024 states that overrepresentation of First Nations young people in the criminal justice system is improving and on track (p. 38), but many state governments are facing calls to ‘crack down’ on child offenders. Overrepresentation of First Nations children in the child protection system is worsening and not on track (p. 42), with record rates of child removal often called ‘a new stolen generation’. SNAICC – National Voice for Our Children and other key stakeholders have previously stated:

The most effective and immediate action Government can take to make children safe and protect their human rights is to stand up a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner, with the legislated power to investigate and make recommendations on issues impacting our children. (p. 6)

Appendix: First Nations-related budget measures not discussed in the article

Table 1        First Nations-specific budget measures

Source: Australian Government, Budget measures: budget paper no. 2: 2024–25.

Table 2        First Nations-specific components in broader budget measures

Source: Australian Government, Budget measures: budget paper no. 2: 2024–25.

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