Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the culture war over Welcome to Country ceremonies a “dry gully” in a speech at the Garma Festival.
Native Title holders will receive $75 million and mobile TAFE programs $35 million, Albanese announced on Gumatj country at Gulkula in the Northern Territory on Saturday.
Albanese said the government must repay and build trust with Indigenous Australians, criticising “those who choose the cheap politics of division over the patient work of lasting change, or who seek to turn the grace and generosity of a Welcome to Country into a political weapon”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives at the 25th annual Garma Festival in Gulkula, Northern Territory.Credit: AAP
“Culture wars are a dry gully. They offer us nothing, they lead us nowhere. The way forward is to invest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, trust in their aspirations and draw from their knowledge. Because when we lay these strong foundations together, there is no limit to what we can build,” he said.
The latest update to Closing the Gap data, published this week, showed Australia had moved backwards on four of the 15 assessed targets. A further six metrics were improving but not on track to meet targets.
One of the most alarming movements was a rise in suicide rates, with self-harm reported as the most frequent cause of death for Indigenous people aged 15 to 39. Rates were increasing for those aged 25 to 39.
Fewer children were assessed as being developmentally on track, and more adults were incarcerated. The only on-track targets were in early childhood education, land and water rights, and economic participation.
Minister for Indigenous Australia Malarndirri McCarthy said she was pleased the majority of targets were seeing some improvement, but found it “very concerning” to see worsening rates of incarceration, children in out-of-home care and suicide.
“It’s important that state and territory governments all back in their commitments under the National Agreement with actions that will help improve outcomes for First Nations people,” she said.