In a historic moment under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, today the Australian Government will release its second Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, alongside the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) annual Implementation Plan.
The Implementation Plan is about practical action. The gap is not closing fast enough and on some measures it is going backwards.
The new Implementation Plan gives purpose and direction to our efforts to transform Government in line with the National Agreement's four Priority Reforms that include formal partnerships between government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations on policies and programs that have a significant impact on them.
The Australian Government's Implementation Plan invests $424 million in additional funding to Closing the Gap. New measures in the 2023 Implementation Plan include:
- $150 million over four years to support First Nations water infrastructure and provide safe and reliable water for remote and regional Indigenous communities through the National Water Grid Fund. This will be targeted at communities that currently do not have access to clean drinking water.
- $111.7 million Commonwealth contribution to a new one-year partnership with the Northern Territory Government to accelerate building of new remote housing, targeted at addressing the worst over-crowding.
- $11.8 million over two years for the National Strategy for Food Security in remote First Nations communities. This is about making essential food more affordable and accessible in remote communities.
- Continued funding of $68.6 million over two years for Family Violence and Prevention Legal Service providers to deliver legal and non-legal support to women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence.
- $21.9 million over five years to Support Families impacted by family violence and at risk of engaging in the child protection system, through delivery of seven place-based, trauma-aware and culturally responsive healing programs aimed at early intervention and recovery, and keeping families together.
- $38.4 million over four years to boost On-Country Education for remote First Nations students. This includes greater access to junior rangers and more choice for families of culturally appropriate distance learning.
- $21.6 million to support quality boarding for rural and remote students for an additional year.
These measures will be designed and delivered in line with the Priority Reforms and through formal partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities and where support for Aboriginal organisations to deliver the services will be prioritised.
This is on top of the $1.2 billion in practical initiatives being implemented following the October budget.
The plan details each parties' responsibility in the next steps towards achieving the Priority Reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap to support improvement against the socio-economic targets. This joint tabling attests to the strengthening of the partnership between government and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations.
The whole-of-government approach, set out in the government's Plan, brings together in one place all of the actions that each Department and Agency is taking to achieve the Closing the Gap outcomes, so that we can be held to account and coordinate with the Coalition of Peaks and our state and territory government and local government partners.
The government Implementation Plan also accelerates specific actions on the National Agreement's four Priority Reforms to transform the relationship between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and organisations.
Restoring the Closing the Gap statement to its original place at the start of the Parliamentary year demonstrates our commitment to ensuring the implementation of the National Agreement is front and centre in efforts to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
The Commonwealth's Implementation Plan is available on the National Indigenous Australians Agency's website, www.niaa.gov.au/ctg
