PM Anthony Albanese has announced $424 million for programs to address Indigenous disadvantage. It’s part of the Albanese Government’s new Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, with the money set to be split across things like infrastructure for clean drinking water ($150 million), housing in remote parts of the Northern Territory ($117 million), food security ($11.8 million), and education support ($21.6 million). There’s also $68.6 million for culturally-appropriate family violence prevention, legal services and support. Speaking on the 15th anniversary of former PM Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations, Albanese said the plan was important because the inequalities between the general population and First Nations peoples “not only persist, but some are getting bigger”.

BACK IT UP A BIT… 

Sure thing. This funding follows the November release of the 2022 Closing the Gap Report, which detailed no progress in improving some outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It showed when it comes to Indigenous children’s school readiness, incarceration rates, suicide and child removal – aka 50% of the plan – things are getting worse. Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney spoke to that yesterday, saying that although several governments had tried, “there is enormous failure in meeting all the Closing the Gap targets”. Burney says along with the “real change” from the new implementation plan, she believed an Indigenous Voice to Parliament would be a “fundamental” part of tackling First Nations’ disadvantage.

WHAT ELSE WAS SAID? 

Coalition leader Peter Dutton repeated his previous apologies to members of the Stolen Generation for skipping the apology in 2008. He says he “failed to grasp at the time the symbolic significance” of the statement but now understands it was a “profound moment”. And although Dutton welcomed the Albanese Government’s new Closing the Gap plan, he maintains there are questions about how the Voice to Parliament will work. He said those who want more information about the proposal are “not hardhearted” but deserve to be trusted “with the detail”. Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume says they won’t support the legislation until the Coalition’s demands are met. It’s currently pushing for equal funding for both the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigns for the Voice equally – something the government’s so far refused to buckle on.