Economic Participation
| 2009-10 Budget Measure |
Description |
| Additional Funding for the Native Title System |
$50.1 million over four years to settle claims, improve agreement-making and provide certainty for all stakeholders. Recognising native title in this way breaks down barriers to investment and infrastructure on Indigenous land. |
| Business Action Agenda |
$3.0 million over four years for a Business Action Agenda. The Government will actively engage the private sector, including Indigenous business leaders, to progress Indigenous economic development and to close the gap. |
| Major Infrastructure Program Stage Four |
$29.0 million over four years to fund the fourth stage of the Torres Strait Major Infrastructure Program, which will provide vital local projects to improve health and wellbeing, and also create business for local contractors. This program has been jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments since 1998. |
| Strengthening Australia’s Indigenous Visual Arts Industry |
$9.9 million over four years to strengthen Australia’s Indigenous visual arts industry by providing increased operational support for Indigenous art centres through the national Arts and Crafts Industry Support program. Funding will also introduce a voluntary Indigenous Art Commercial Code of Conduct. |
| Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program and Indigenous Employment Program Reform |
$202.4 million over five years (from 2008-09) to reform the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program. The reforms are designed to assist more Indigenous Australians to prepare for and take up work. The reforms to these programs are supported by the creation of more training and employment opportunities for Indigenous job seekers and the establishment of a new Community Support Service. |
| Australian Public Service Indigenous Employment Strategy |
$6.0 million over three years to continue the Australian Public Service Indigenous Employment Strategy to increase Indigenous employment in the APS. |
| Sporting Chance Program |
The Government will provide $10.0 million over four years from
2008-09 to expand the Sporting Chance Program including $5.0 million to establish up to 10 new school-based academies across Australia with the focus on involving girls in sport, and $5.0 million for the Former Origin Greats, Queensland (FOGs) to establish school-based academies with a rugby league focus in Queensland and New South Wales. |
A focus on Remote Australia
| 2009-10 Budget Measure |
Description |
| Coordinator-General for Remote Indigenous Services |
$9.0 million over three years to fund a Coordinator-General position within government to improve service delivery and cut through administrative barriers to deliver real results for Indigenous Australians living in remote areas. |
| Closing the Gap Clearinghouse |
$1.5 million over three years for a national Indigenous clearinghouse to collect and disseminate evidence on best practice and success factors for closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage. |
| Commonwealth investment in closing Indigenous data gaps |
The Government has made provision in the Budget to support work with the States in the development of a revised national performance reporting framework and to improve the quality of Indigenous data to enhance public accountability for funding under the new framework for federal financial arrangements agreed through COAG. |
| National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Taskforce |
$5.5 million in 2009-10 for the National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Taskforce to provide a more complete picture of the nature of Indigenous family violence and abuse. |
| Indigenous dental services in regional and remote areas. |
$11.0 million will fund dental treatment and prevention services to regional and remote Indigenous communities and assess the effectiveness of transportable dental facilities in communities where dental professionals and infrastructure are scarce. |
| Improving eye and ear health services for Indigenous Australians |
$58.3 million for ear and eye health services, which will expand the Visiting Optometrist Scheme, train health workers for hearing screening, maintain and purchase medical equipment for hearing screening and additional ear and eye surgery, particularly for remote Indigenous clients. |
| Quality Assurance for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Services Pathology Program |
$3.8 million over four years to enable more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with diabetes to have access to pathology testing within their own communities by expanding the number of health service sites from the current 120 to up to 170. |
| Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory |
A funding package of $807.4 million over three years to close the gap in the Northern Territory and support the safety of women and children. |
| NT – Community Engagement |
$34.6 million over three years to facilitate more effective engagement between the government and Indigenous people through providing: ongoing funding for 15 Indigenous Engagement Officers who are Indigenous community members; leadership development and engagement activities and developing a new Community Transition program to increase the capacity of Indigenous communities to engage in decision making; and audio, television and printed communication. |
| NT - Policing |
$156.6 million over three years to fund 66 additional police officers and related training, transportation, communication and freight costs; build five permanent police stations; continue operation of ten temporary police stations; and support activities linked to implementing and compliance of the alcohol and pornography laws. |
| NT - Law and Order |
$80.2 million over three years to support existing law and order measures, through continuing: the Northern Territory Welfare Outreach Rights Projects; night patrol services in the 73 Northern Territory prescribed communities and expansion to an additional eight external communities; funding for the Northern Territory Aboriginal Interpreter Service; and increasing legal assistance service provision to six communities. |
| NT - Youth Diversion |
$28.4 million over three years to fund the Northern Territory Youth Development Network, establish a Community Responsive Youth Support and Recreation Fund for infrastructure, and youth services to address problem behaviours. Projects will involve consultation with communities and provide longer-term support for young people engaging in substance use and other high risk activities. |
| NT - Family Support Package |
$32.9 million over three years for 22 safe houses, 13 Remote Aboriginal Family and Community (RAFC) workers, and a Mobile Child Protection Team with 12 workers. |
| NT - income management – additional funding |
$105.9 million to continue the compulsory income management including $89.2 million for income management and associated Centrelink delivery costs and for the continued operation of the BasicsCard until 30 June 2010; $4.9 million to continue financial management support services in 2009-10; and $11.8 million for the development of a new point of sale delivery mechanism. The Government is also working to redesign income management in consultation with Indigenous communities so that it is consistent with the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. |
| NT - Community Stores |
$18.3 million over three years to continue assessing, licensing and monitoring stores; provide training and improve the capacity and operations of community stores; and provide food to communities where a store licence has been revoked. |
| NT - Early Childhood |
$1.5 million over three years to continue funding three projects from the Invest to Grow Program and an Indigenous Children Program project which aim to build culturally strong parenting skills and stronger Indigenous families and communities. |
| NT - Playgroups |
$2.8 million over three years to fund two existing and one additional Intensive Support Playgroup which deliver mobile playgroup services that can operate with little or no infrastructure; and three existing and two additional Locational Supported Playgroups, which focus on providing Indigenous parents/caregivers effective parenting support and Indigenous children with access to age appropriate play based activities. |
| NT - Crèches |
$9.1 million over three years to support operational funding for eight new crèches established under the Northern Territory Emergency Response; and construction and operation of a ninth crèche. |
| NT - enhancing education – quality teaching and accelerated literacy |
$45.7 million over three years to overcome barriers to accelerating literacy and numeracy achievement by Indigenous students in the Northern Territory, provide professional development for staff, increase retention of teachers and relieve pressure on existing school infrastructure. Funding for 15 classrooms will be provided from the Building the Education Revolution program. |
| NT - enhancing education – teacher housing |
$11.2 million over three years to attract and retain teachers by providing a contribution to the construction of 22 additional houses for teachers at schools in prescribed Indigenous communities. |
| NT - enhancing education – school nutrition |
$37.5 million over three years to improve Indigenous student attendance, performance and health by providing nutritious meals and the continued delivery of a breakfast and lunch program at 68 or more sites in communities along with the progressive establishment of sites in 45 town camps. |
| NT - language, literacy and numeracy training for Indigenous job seekers |
$3.0 million over three years to continue the Language, Literacy and Numeracy (LLN) Program using community-based delivery to increase cost-efficiency. The program aims to assist Indigenous job-seekers to build their language, literacy and numeracy skills and become job ready. |
| NT - Indigenous health and related services |
$131.1 million over three years to continue the expanded primary health care and health-related services. The continued regional reform of remote Indigenous primary health care services will ensure these services provide comprehensive and coordinated care. It will also continue the Remote Area Health Corps, and fund follow-up services for dental and ear, nose and throat conditions identified through the NTER child health checks and expand the Mobile Outreach Service. Alcohol and other drug treatment and rehabilitation services will be continued. |
| NT - field operations |
$84.1 million over three years for 50 Government Business Managers; four staff to establish a Regional Operations Centre in Alice Springs; and interpreter services and cultural competency training for Government staff. |
| NT - local priorities fund |
$10.0 million in 2009-10 to address minor service and infrastructure gaps as part of the planning and community engagement process. |
| NT - coordination and policy Advice |
$11.0 million over three years for: baseline mapping of town camps, impact studies and reporting and an evaluation of the Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory initiative in 2011-12. |
| NT - Commonwealth Ombudsman support |
$3.3 million over four years (from 2008-09) for the Ombudsman’s office to handle complaints; support complaint handling in Government agencies delivering programs to Indigenous communities; and identify systemic issues. |
