• Lesley Russell
• Macroeconomics

Report cover: Commonwealth Indigenous budget bulletin 2011

09 June 2011As various government and non-government reports show, progress in ‘Closing the Gap’ on Indigenous disadvantage is heart-breakingly slow and very much a story of one step forward, two steps back.  Clearly a long-term and substantial investment is needed if the established goals are to be met in anything close to the timeframe promised.  So it’s disconcerting to see investment levels in Closing the Gap already dropping and established programs relying on last minute, short-term funding when what is required is funding certainty and a regular cycle of evaluation of effectiveness to inform the  refining of policies and programs.  

My annual analysis of the Indigenous Budget highlights how difficult it is to track the effort to Close the Gap across jurisdictions, portfolios, programs, and reports that  too often highlight the lack of key data to measure progress.  One is left to wonder if it is any easier for the bureaucrats.

The 2011-12 Budget provides $613.4 million over 5 years for Indigenous programs across several portfolios.  Only $500 million of this is new money; the remainder is redirected from other Indigenous programs.  Of these funds: $237.7 million is for health; $226.1 million is for education and training; $100.4 million is for employment (linked to CDEP); $ 34.0 million is for welfare reform and income management; and $15.2 million is for Indigenous broadcasting.

Assessing overall spending by the Commonwealth on Indigenous-specific programs is difficult as the funding is delivered both through National Partnerships (NPs) with the states and territories and directly through a number of different federal departments and agencies.

There are currently eight NPs through which health, education, affordable housing, infrastructure and community services are delivered to Indigenous communities. Funding provided through these NPs is $942 million in 2010-11, and $809.3 million in 2011-12.  In 2011-12, there is $45.4 million for health, $155.5 million for education, and $530.0 million for housing.  Only the commitments in early childhood development ($117.2 million in 2011-12) reach beyond remote communities to deliver services to Indigenous people in regional and metropolitan areas.

The Department of Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has primary responsibility for the coordination and oversight of efforts to ‘Close the Gap’.  The FaHCSIA 2011-12 budget has $1.2 billion for Indigenous-specific programs.  Overall funding for Indigenous initiatives through FaHCSIA has decreased since 2008-09.  It is not possible to accurately assess Indigenous spending prior to this date as the portfolio outcomes have changed over time.

Funding of $117 million is specifically allocated to ‘Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory’.  Funds for this initiative have been re-allocated across the forward estimates every year, and the specific funds provided for the period 2010-11 to 2012-13 have decreased by 15 percent as this has been done.

The Department of Health and Aging (DoHA) will spend $782.6 million on Indigenous-specific health programs in 2011-12.  Spending by DoHA on Indigenous health has risen by 40 percent since 2008-09, and has been increasing steadily over the past decade.

Many of the Indigenous programs suffer from the fact that their funding is tied to evaluation reports.  While these are essential to ensure that programs are well targeted and cost-effective, relying on intermittent reports and not having a continuing feedback cycle to inform policy initiatives hinders the ability to develop and implement the long-term approaches that are needed.  None of the problems that beset our Indigenous people will be solved in the life-time of any government, and the funding commitments should reflect this fact.

A recent editorial in the Medical Journal of Australia highlights that we must do more to better understand the contributors to the gap in order to close it.  This includes facing up to issues such as racism and marginalisation, doing more to develop Indigenous capacity and ensuring that Indigenous voices are heard and the issues they raise addressed.  Unless this is done, the money spent on interventional research will be wasted and the raft of new and expanded programs will be just tinkering at the edges of a gap we have committed to eliminate.

Lesley Russell, Macroeconomics.

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