$2 million First Nations budget criticised for shortfalls in housing and justice

By ERIN MODARO

The Labor Government has allocated almost $2 billion towards First Nations Communities in the 2023 Federal Budget, including a sizeable chunk going to the Australian Electoral Commission to carry out the referendum on the Voice.

Critics of the budget’s allocation for First Nations peoples say the government has left crucial issues like Aboriginal housing and reducing deaths in incarceration out of the picture.

First Nations Senator Lidia Thorpe has fired-up at Treasurer Jim Chalmers, saying the budget fails to “deliver First Nations Justice”.

“Well done Jim. You delivered a budget that is in surplus and you’ve done it while giving tax cuts to the rich. The slow clap you hear is from the millions of Australians who have been told their battles to put food on the table and a roof over their heads is their burden to bear,” Thorpe tweeted on Wednesday.

“Well done Jim. You delivered a budget that is in surplus and you’ve done it while giving tax cuts to the rich. The slow clap you hear is from the millions of Australians who have been told their battles to put food on the table and a roof over their heads is their burden to bear

— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) May 9, 2023

In a joint statement, Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Senator Malarndirri Mccarthy said that the Federal Budget represents “a beginning of a new chapter that will make our nation proud”.

The government’s allocation for Indigenous communities includes over $360 million over three years to carry out the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. $424 million will go towards the Close the Gap 2023 Implementation Plan.

Along side the budget for the Voice, the government has pledged $10.5 million to boost mental health support in the lead up to, during, and following the referendum. Another $1.6 million will go towards the increased uptake of health assessments by First Nations people, which will include long term mental health care. More than $500 million will go towards tackling cancer and smoking.

Aboriginal Housing allocation

As for housing, the government has given $410 million to address housing in the Northern Territory and several NSW locations. Just $20.8 million will go towards addressing the decline of the Aboriginal Hostels Limited, which provides temporary emergency accommodation and social services for First Nations peoples. Only 45 hostels are currently operating across the country.

Oxfam Australia has criticised the budget for not adequately addressing the severely declining state of Indigenous housing.

Oxfam welcomes the additional $1.9 billion in funding for First Nations social services, but we are concerned that the Budget contains no new measure to address incarceration, deaths in custody and the very poor state of Aboriginal housing in Australia. #Budget2023

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— Oxfam Australia (@OxfamAustralia) May 10, 2023

“We are concerned that the Budget contains no new measure to address incarceration, deaths in custody and the very poor state of Aboriginal housing in Australia,” Oxfam tweeted on Wednesday.

A March 2022 report by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute found that Indigenous Australians still face significant barriers in accessing housing. In 2022, 60% of First Nations people were renting, compared to 30% across the non-Indigenous Australian population.

The lack of address for incarceration rates comes after a peak body working to address Indigenous legal issues, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (NATSILS), called an emergency meeting as it is in a “funding-crisis”.

NATSILS has called on the government to provide $250 million of emergency funding to keep essential legal services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people running. No funding was allocated for the legal services across Australia in the Budget; a move that Thorpe branded as “devastating”.