Indigenous leaders believe the lack of research and funding has contributed to the high rate of family violence and death among First Nations women and children which has led to a major failure in the Closing the Gap target.

Indigenous women are killed at up to 12 times the national average — one of the highest homicide rates in the world – and Target 13 of the plan calls for the rate of all family violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children to be reduced by at least 50 per cent by 2031.

But Hannah McGlade, an Indigenous domestic violence expert, told the ABC it won’t happen with the current level of investment.

“As Indigenous women fighting against violence, we never want to feel defeated so we’re very hopeful,” she told ABC News Breakfast.

“We need the states to lift their game. We need increased funding from the Commonwealth. I don’t believe frontline organisations are impressed … we know mainstream non-Indigenous women’s organisations equally have been disappointed.

“This is a major human rights issue that Australia has failed to grapple with to date,” Dr McGlade said.

“We’re a small percentage of the Australian population, so how is it that this can be happening?”

The 2024 Federal Budget allocated almost $1 billion towards establishing a program that victim-survivors of violence could access when fleeing a violent partner.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service asked for $229 million of that, but only received $15.4 million from that budget amount.

“There has been very little investment into research led by Indigenous women against violence,” Ms McGlade said.

“This is driving and underlying the level of violence we’re seeing to Indigenous women.”