Housing & Essential Services

$4 billion joint investment with the NT Government over 10 years to address remote housing needs

Up to 270 houses built annually with the goal of halving overcrowding within a decade

$120 million over 3 years for repairs and upgrades to housing and essential infrastructure on NT homelands

$111.1 million in 2024-25 to continue critical services under the National Partnership on NT Remote Aboriginal Investment

Jobs & Economic Development

$777.4 million over 5 years for the new Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program, replacing the Community Development Program

Creation of 3,000 real jobs with proper wages and decent conditions in remote Australia

Expansion of the Indigenous Rangers Program to create 1,000 new ranger jobs

$68 million over 4 years for First Nations Digital Inclusion measures, including free community Wi-Fi in remote communities

Education Initiatives

$110 million over 4 years to support First Nations education, including:

$29.1 million to support national First Nations peak education organisations

$27.5 million to extend existing programs improving educational outcomes

$32.8 million for the Clontarf Foundation's school engagement programs

$2.4 million for the First Nations Teacher Strategy

Health & Wellbeing

Expanded PBS coverage to all medicines for eligible First Nations peoples

$94.9 million over 2 years for First Nations vaccination, STI testing, and sexual health services

$12.5 million over 4 years for community-led distribution of menstrual products in regional and remote communities

Support for Birthing on Country models of care through the Women's Health measure

Justice System Reforms

$76.2 million over 5 years for a new evidence-led First Nations prison to employment program

$10.7 million over 4 years for the First Nations Justice Policy Partnership

$24 million in 2024-25 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services

Support for 27 community-led justice reinvestment initiatives across Australia

Water Security & Rights

$150 million over 4 years for First Nations water infrastructure in regional and remote communities

$100 million Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program launched in June 2024 for First Nations water ownership in the Murray-Darling Basin

First Nations-led governance structure to determine how water entitlements are purchased and managed

Culture & Heritage

$53.8 million over 4 years to increase the number of First Nations language speakers

$10.3 million over 4 years for the Return of Cultural Heritage program

$17.7 million over 3 years to improve cultural heritage protection laws

Closing the Gap Progress

The 2024 Productivity Commission report shows unfortunately only 5 of 19 targets are on track. There is still lots of work to be done.

The Voice to Parliament as an Election Promise

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament stood as a cornerstone election commitment for Anthony Albanese's Labor government in the 2022 federal election. In his victory speech, Albanese explicitly pledged to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full during his first term, promising a referendum to enshrine an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution. This commitment built upon the 2017 Uluru Statement's call for constitutional recognition and represented a significant shift from the previous Coalition government's approach of considering only a legislated voice. The Albanese government moved quickly after the election, with Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney leading implementation efforts, the Prime Minister proposing specific constitutional wording at the Garma Festival in July 2022, and establishing dedicated working groups to guide the referendum process. Despite extensive preparation and advocacy, the October 14, 2023 referendum was unsuccessful, with voters in all states except the ACT rejecting the proposal, and consistent with its pre-referendum position, the government has maintained it will not pursue a legislated Voice following the defeat.

(Editors note - sorry to summarise what should be an entire section into one article - I've been hoping to get this project out asap, and if I have the time I'll definitely look to flesh this out. For now i wanted to provide a summary :) )

[1] https://www.pm.gov.au/media/next-steps-closing-gap-delivering-remote-jobs

[2] https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/julie-collins-2022/media-releases/albanese-labor-government-funding-deliver-new-homes

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Albanese

[4] https://nit.com.au/01-08-2024/12821/malarndirri-mccarthy-calls-for-a-bi-partisan-approach-to-closing-the-gap-in-wake-of-deeply-troubling-numbers

[5] https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/media-centre/partnership-agreement-to-build-australias-future-and-close-the-gap-in-the-northern-territory

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Voice_to_Parliament#:~:text=The%20Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Strait,the%20views%20of%20Indigenous%20communities.

[7] https://www.alp.org.au/media/3554/reconciliation-action-plan-2023.pdf

[8] https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2024-06/2024-25-fact-sheet-first-nations-budget-measures.pdf

[9] https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/delivering-first-nations-water-ownership-basin

[10] https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/burke/media-release/funding-strengthen-first-nations-arts-and-languages

[11] https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/our-work/our-work-first-nations

[12] https://www.pm.gov.au/media/albanese-labor-government-building-investments-close-gap