Albanese goes to Garma with economic message, amid disappointing progress on Closing the Gap

Anthony Albanese will reinforce his message about the importance of Indigenous economic empowerment, when he attends the Garma festival in the Northern Territory on Saturday.

In modest new initiatives, he will announce the government will allocate $75 million in extra funding to support native title holders “to secure better deals, drive faster approvals and deliver a real and lasting economic legacy for conmmunities”.

A new economic partnership is being established between the First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance, the Coalition of Peaks and the government to engage with business, partnering with private capital and institutional investors.

The alliance is made up of organisations and experts committed to advancing First Nations’ economic rights and interests. The Coalition of Peaks represents more than 80 Indigenous groups.

“This builds on our commitment to the Closing the Gap Agreement, to its call for a new way of doing business and to the principle of shared decision making,” Albanese says in his speech, released ahead of delivery.

In a bid to boost skills, there will also be $31 million for a mobile TAFE service.

This would provide “utes and trailers that will enable teachers to take skills on the road and train the next generation of mechanics, carpenters, plumbers and workers in the Aboriginal community-controlled sector”.

The government pivoted to stress the economic empowerment of Indigenous communities after the defeat of the Voice referendum in 2023.

The prime minister’s speech comes against the background of poor progress on Closing the Cap, again documented in the latest results released this week.

In four key areas, things have gone backwards: adult imprisonment; children in out-of-home care; suicide and children developmentally on track.

Two architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Megan Davis and Pat Anderson, this week strongly criticised the situation after the latest results.

“Our children are being locked up, our elders are dying, and our people are continuing to live in a country where their rights are neglected.

"Their voices and calls for help are falling on deaf ears” they said in a statement. “Enough is enough.” They said Garma provided a “performative opportunity for the government to repeat their talking points”.

In his speech Albanese defends the government’s record on Indigenous jobs, housing, education, the provision of clean water and the strengthening of supply chains for the delivery of household staples.

The prime minister warns that culture wars are “a dry gully”.

He says as a nation we are still coming to terms with the full truth and toll of a past that excluded Indigenous people.

“Even as we continue the long journey of understanding our past, we must meet our responsibility to the future.

"We must seize and harness the power of inclusion.

"The sense of belonging that comes from having a stake in the economy, being embraced by society and equal in the law of the land.”

Albanese will tell his audience, “coming to Garma feels like coming home”.