Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the opportunity to make an opening statement. As pointed out by the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Digital Transformation, the 2018-19 budget provide the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio with appropriations for ordinary annual services of $2.1 billion in 2018-19. Of the total appropriations for the portfolio, $1.6 billion relates to Indigenous affairs, with funding provided to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Aboriginal Hostels Limited, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Indigenous Business Australia and the Indigenous Land Corporation.

This year's budget is delivering for First Australians by investing in reducing homelessness and in boosting job growth, economic development, and health and safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The investment of $5.1 billion across the forward estimates in the Indigenous Advancement Strategy demonstrates the government's ongoing commitment to improving Indigenous wellbeing. The Indigenous Advancement Strategy is delivering funding on the ground, in partnership with communities, and is ensuring children are attending school, adults are in employment and communities are safe.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is the policy lead for four measures that impact on Indigenous affairs. Firstly, the Commonwealth government is providing $550 million for remote Indigenous housing in the Northern Territory over five years. With the matched commitment from the Northern Territory government, this represents the largest yearly investment in housing in the NT and follows the $1.7 billion invested over the last 10 years, which yielded 1,500 new houses, creating local jobs and employment. The investment will target the high levels of overcrowding in remote NT and will provide jobs and apprenticeships for local Indigenous people.

The Community Development Program will be reformed under this budget. In partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the government will support more Indigenous Australians into work and improve the lives of and outcomes for jobseekers in remote Australia and in the communities in which they live. Jobs provide benefits well beyond financial independence. They further develop a person's skills and training opportunities, and they contribute significantly to a person's health, wellbeing and social outcomes. The reforms of the Community Development Program are designed to stimulate the remote economy and provide employment outcomes in remote Australia. They are a direct response to feedback from First Australians, following consultations with jobseekers, communities and Indigenous leaders, and responses to the government's discussion paper on the future of the program. These reforms recognise that remote jobseekers have varying capabilities and need tailored support while they move along a pathway to work. The reforms will also look to improve the experience for remote jobseekers as they move through the program. The government will work with local communities to introduce 6,000 new subsidised jobs, and these jobs will create a genuine pathway into work and off welfare.

Delivering on the Prime Minister's announcement in his Closing the Gap address, the budget incorporates the creation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Future Fund. This fund will improve the investment opportunities and turn a yield of the $2 billion currently invested in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Account. These changes will enable the Indigenous Land Corporation to deliver on its purpose in the long-term—that is, to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to acquire and manage land. The management by the Future Fund Board of Guardians and the change in investment strategy provide scope for the fund to be $1.5 billion better off over the coming 20 years, when compared to current investment parameters. The government will also expand the functions of the Indigenous Land Corporation to include water rights, in order to bring ILC in line with traditional understandings of country. Nationwide consultations found overwhelming support for these reforms to the land account and for the expansion of the remit of the ILC to water. The government's bills were co-designed and supported by the ILC board.

I also want to highlight that the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies will receive $2 million over the next two years to scope and commence activity relating to the repatriation of culturally significant items from overseas.

The government is working to achieve our aspiration that all Australians have equal opportunities. The budget is further evidence of this commitment. Thank you for this opportunity to set out some of the highlights of this year's Indigenous Affairs budget measures and to give a brief insight into how they will benefit our community and our economy.

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