Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum receives Budget funding

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Preparations for a referendum on enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament are set to get underway, with last night’s federal Budget revealing $75.1 million has been set aside for that task.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese told attendees at the Garma Festival in July the government was committed to implementing the Uluru Statement of the Heart in full.

That statement, which was released in 2017, proposed a Voice to Parliament, a treaty, and also truth-telling about Australia’s past.

The $75.1 million will go towards preparation for the referendum at which Australians will be asked consideration enshrining a Voice to Parliament in the Australian constitution.

That amount is split across several agencies, with the largest amount going to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).

The AEC will have $66.3 million over two years to work towards preparations for the Voice referendum and to increase First Nations enrolments and participation in elections.

Budget papers also reveal the government has provided funds for the establishment of a commission that will deal with the issues of treaty-making and truth-telling.

Additionally, $5.8 million has been allocated to the establishment of a Makarrata Commission, a body that would have the responsibility of oversight of both treaty-making and truth-telling.

The Budget delivered by treasurer Jim Chalmers also contains further injections of funds for areas associated with Closing the Gap.

“The Government is working with First Nations people and state, territory, and local governments to drive sustained progress on the National Agreement on Closing the Gap,” the budget papers say.

“This includes $314.8 million to support the Government’s commitment to close the gap for First Nations peoples’ health and well-being outcomes, $100.0 million for housing and essential infrastructure in Northern Territory homelands and $99.0 million to support improved justice outcomes.”

A new jobs program that has been designed to replace the Community Development Program has received an initial $9.4 million in funding that will involve the government partnering with First Nations communities to improve employment outcomes.

The government has also committed $99 million over four years from 2022-23 to a series of measures to deal with First Nations Justice.

A further measure announced by the government that will be met from within the existing resources of the Australian Institute of Criminology is to explore options for consolidated real-time reporting of First Nations deaths in custody.