Budget Review 2022–23 Index
Sally McNicol
The Indigenous Affairs Budget review articles summarise
Indigenous-specific measures across portfolios and provide some assessment of
the Indigenous impact of general budget measures. This article covers measures
related to health, culture and language, housing, justice and safety, while
another Indigenous affairs article covers measures relating to leadership,
land, economic development and education.
Overview
Overall, there is limited new funding for health, culture
and language, housing, and justice and safety, likely in part because a
range of measures was announced on 5 August 2021 with the release of the Commonwealth’s
Closing the Gap (CtG) Implementation Plan. These measures included additional
infrastructure funding for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations
(ACCHOs) ($154.4 million in new money, supplemented by $100 million from
the Indigenous Australians’ Health Program – see Commonwealth CtG Implementation
Plan, p. 24) and the introduction of the Territories
Stolen Generations Redress Scheme ($378.6 million). These measures were also
described in the 2021–22
Mid–Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) under the cross portfolio Closing
the Gap Package (pp. 214–216). All up, around $1.1 billion of funding
commitments were made under the Commonwealth’s Implementation Plan, with around
$460 million of this listed as new money in the MYEFO statement and the balance
‘already provided for by the Government’.
A Justice
Policy Partnership (JPP) was also established in late 2021. This is a
commitment under Priority
Reform 1 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap to support formal
partnerships and shared decision-making. The JPP is focused on the Closing the
Gap outcomes 10 and 11 (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults and youth
are not overrepresented in the criminal justice system). JPP members include
key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as well as representatives
from all Australian governments.
It should be noted that in the current Budget, measures relating
to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not always explicitly
aligned with the National Agreement on Closing the Gap or the Commonwealth’s
Implementation Plan.
National Partnership on Northern
Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment
The National Partnership on Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal
Investment (NTRAI) was due to cease on 30 June 2022, but, following the release
of its end
of term review, has been extended
for 2 years. Funding includes:
- $173.2 million over 2 years from 2022–23 to extend services offered
under the NTRAI to 30 June 2024
- $7.5 million over 2 years from 2021–22 to transition the
administration of the remote community store licensing scheme to the Northern
Territory Government. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on
Indigenous Affairs’ Report
on food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities
recommended establishing a national system of remote store licencing
(recommendation 6, p.54), which the Government supported in principle in
their response. The Government has asked the National Federation Reform
Council’s Indigenous Affairs Taskforce to develop a national strategy for
priority actions on food security in remote Indigenous communities, including
consideration of what underpinning support a national stores licensing regime
could deliver.
- $3.0 million over 2 years from 2021–22 to support Aboriginal peak
organisations to work with the Australian Government and Indigenous Australians
to develop a strategy for future investment in the Northern Territory (Budget
measures: budget paper no. 2: 2022–23, p.
156). This is in line with a NTRAI
review recommendation (p. 9) that ‘future arrangements should provide
Aboriginal representatives a role as shared decision-maker in the design,
delivery and monitoring of policies and programs which are delivered to their
communities’.
Funding for this
measure has already been provided for by the Government.
Health
There are minimal new measures for Indigenous health in the
2022–23 Budget.
National
Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) CEO, Pat
Turner, expressed disappointment that there is no substantial increase to core
funding for Indigenous community-controlled health services. The Chair of
NACCHO, Donnella Mills, suggested that a review of funding for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander health is needed, citing work undertaken by Equity
Economics for NACCHO that identified a $4.4 billion funding gap in Indigenous
health ($5,042 per Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person), of which $2.6
billion was identified as the Commonwealth’s share. The Shadow
Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Linda Burney, observed that ‘The gap will
never be closed without extra effort on health and decent housing for
Indigenous people. This budget contains no measures for either.’
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health expenditure has
increased by $150 million since 2021–22, but is expected to decrease over the
forward estimates ‘largely reflecting the temporary nature of the remote and
Indigenous response components of the 2022–23 Budget measure COVID-19 Response
Package’ (Budget
strategy and outlook: budget paper no. 1: 2022–23, p. 154). Some
continuing Indigenous aspects of the COVID-19 response relating to rapid
antigen tests and immunisation are noted as part of COVID-19 Response measures
on pp. 89-92, Budget paper no. 2.
There is provision for $8.6 million over 3 years to develop a
Policy Partnership on Social and Emotional Wellbeing (Mental Health) (Budget
paper no. 2, p. 110). This is a commitment under Priority Reform 1 of the National
Agreement on Closing the Gap, intended to facilitate greater involvement of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people in policy direction and funding decisions.
The Health budget measure ‘Scholarships for Our Medical
Workforce’ includes $13.9 million over 2 years for the expansion of the Puggy
Hunter Memorial Scholarship Scheme to support up to an additional 150 Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander undergraduate students in health-related disciplines
(Budget paper no. 2, p. 112). According to the Closing
the Gap Health Sector Strengthening Plan (p. 9) ‘there are only about 300
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical practitioners, fewer than 1,000
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health professionals, and only
about 2,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses’ across Australia. The
(recently
launched) National
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce Strategic Framework and
Implementation Plan (2021–2031) aims to lift the rate of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people working in the health sector from the current 1.8%
to 3.4% (population parity) by 2031 (p. 6).
Other health measures include
- $8.5 million over 3 years to extend culturally appropriate
programs in 16 communities across the Northern Territory through the Red Dust program, focused on social and
emotional wellbeing, sexual health, relationships, alcohol and other drugs, and
Foetal Spectrum Disorder (Budget paper no. 2, p. 110)
- $2.1 million over 2 years to extend the National
Sepsis Program, and to undertake a national review of the
impact of sepsis on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Budget
paper no. 2, p. 106)
- $2.4 million, as part of $16.6 million to support local mental
health services in response to the 2022 East Coast floods, for local Aboriginal
Community Controlled Health Organisations to deliver culturally appropriate, locally-designed
mental health services in affected communities (Portfolio
budget statements 2022–23: budget related paper no. 1.7: Health portfolio,
p. 18)
- an additional $1.2 million over 3 years through the National
Indigenous Australians Agency under the Prioritising Mental Health measure (Budget
paper no. 2, p. 108)
- an additional $14.4 million to extend oral and hearing health
measures under the NTRAI for 2 years to June 2024 (Federal
financial relations: budget paper no. 3: 2022–23, p. 33)
Culture and language
Two significant cultural measures relating to Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples were announced in January 2022:
- $20.2 million is allocated in 2022–23 to transfer copyright of
the Aboriginal Flag to the Commonwealth (Budget paper no. 2, p. 160,
announced
on 25 January 2022). This followed protracted negotiations with the
copyright holder, Harold Thomas, and several licensees. A 2020 Senate
Select Committee Inquiry into the Aboriginal flag had recommended that the
Commonwealth should not compulsorily acquire the copyright for the flag.
- $316.5 million is allocated over 5 years from 2021–22 to build Ngurra,
the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Precinct, in the
Parliamentary Triangle in Canberra (Budget paper no. 2, p. 163, announced
on 5 January 2022; funds ‘already provided for by the Government’). Ngurra,
meaning ‘home’, ‘country’ or ‘place of belonging’ in the Ngunnawal language,
will include a learning and knowledge centre, a national
resting place to care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral
remains and a new home for the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).
There are no new measures relating to Indigenous languages.
This is unsurprising given a $22.8 million commitment over 4 years, including
some ongoing funding, in the Closing
the Gap Commonwealth Implementation Plan (p. 67; Mid-Year
Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2021–22, pp. 214–215).
Funding of $11.0 million over 2 years will be provided under
the environmental budget measure ‘Streamlining Environmental Protections and Modernising
Indigenous Heritage Protections’ to continue reforms to the Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage protection regime (Budget paper no.
2, pp. 54–55). The Independent Review of the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the
Samuel review) and the Senate
Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in
the Pilbara region of Western Australia raised serious concerns about the
effectiveness of the current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage
protection regime and recommended substantial changes be made. Reforms continue
to be of critical importance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,
with concerns
about the adequacy of cultural heritage protections raised regularly. The
measure includes $5.0 million to support the First
Nations Heritage Protection Alliance Partnership, established in November
2021, to
canvass and develop options for cultural heritage reform during 2022.
Housing
The 2022–23 Budget contains one small measure relating to Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander housing:
The National
Partnership for Remote Housing Northern Territory is due to expire in June
2023 (Budget
paper no. 3, p. 54) with no replacement flagged.
The provision of sufficient and appropriate Indigenous
housing remains of high concern, particularly in remote areas: around 1 in 5 Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people live in overcrowded housing; in remote areas
it is around 2 in 5 (Overcoming
Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2020, p. 10.6). The Close
the Gap Campaign Report 2022 – Transforming Power: Voices for Generational
Change calls for development of a national housing framework that
delivers appropriate housing and strategies to reduce overcrowding, poor
housing conditions and shortages in remote communities (Budget paper no. 2,
p. 8).
A Housing Sector Strengthening Plan, a commitment under Priority
Reform 2 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, is due with the
Joint Council on Closing the Gap in April 2022. The plan must include actions
relating to workforce, capital infrastructure, service provision, and
governance.
Justice and safety
There is very little in the Budget relating to justice
measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples:
- $1.9 million is allocated to extend existing Commonwealth funding
by 1 year for Custody Notification Services in Western Australia and the
Northern Territory (providing culturally-appropriate health and wellbeing
checks when an Indigenous person is taken into police custody) (Budget paper
no. 2, p. 159). Funding for this measure will come from the existing Indigenous
Advancement Strategy allocation.
- $2.0 million is allocated over 2 years from 2022–23 for the
Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia to expand the Youth Engagement
Program as part of the Kimberley Juvenile Justice Project in the Kimberley and
Pilbara regions. The Youth Engagement Program provides case management,
mentoring, court support and advocacy services to help young Aboriginal people
to comply with bail conditions and court orders (Budget paper no. 2, p. 162).
- $3.2 million is allocated in 2022–23 to extend the Time to Work
Employment Services program for 12 months to provide continued
in-person pre-employment services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
prisoners (Budget paper no. 2, p. 74).
The recently finalised Justice
Policy Partnership (an action item under the National Agreement on Closing
the Gap) and associated
Work Plan have agreed an initial focus on children aged under 14 (p. 4).
The cross portfolio Women’s Safety package sets out measures
to address family, domestic and sexual violence under the first phase of the
new National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032
(the National Plan). Information and analysis on the full set of measures can
be found in the Women’s
safety Budget review brief. Indigenous-specific measures include:
All online articles accessed April 2022
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