Price picks $448.8m hole in Indigenous Budget proposals

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijnpa Price, has accused the Federal government of fudging the numbers of its Budget allocation to Closing the Gap.

The Government announced $506.4 million to be used for new Closing the Gap measures, but Senator Nampijinpa Price said Labor had allocated only $57.6 million in new money for those initiatives.

“The Minister needs to explain where the extra $448.8 million is going to come from to pay for these new measures,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Health Services, Senator Kerrynne Liddle, said the Budget lacked transparency, detail and clarity about where accountability sits.

“The Government needs to explain why it continues to invest significant new money into Closing the Gap initiatives at the same time it is failing to make progress in key areas to actually Close the Gap,” Senator Liddle said.

Senator Kerrynne Liddle accused the government of failing to “actually Close the Gap”.

“It cannot just blame the states and territories but should also look at those who manage the decisions that inform the initiatives.

“The Government must also come clean about which Indigenous programs it will cut in order to fund its new measures.

Senator Nampijinpa Price also said the Budget was also telling when it came to the Government’s previous election commitment to overhaul the Community Development Program and implement a new program.

“The Government has budgeted for an extension to the CDP in its original form until after the election. They have not implemented the replacement program in their first term of government, which is another broken election promise,” she said.

Senator Nampijinpa Price said that, despite the Budget detailing a $10.5 million net reduction in resourcing over the next five years, the National Indigenous Australians Agency was set to see its staffing increase by more than 100 positions next financial year.

The government also copped criticism over its funding of the Makarrata Commission, $27.7m.

“Has that $27.7 million been redirected to fund these new measures or is it still sitting in the Contingency Reserve?” she asked.

“There are many things in this Budget that just don’t add up when it comes to Indigenous affairs.”