Education among Budget highlights in 2019

A commitment of $200 million has been made in the 2019-20 Federal Budget to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students.

The Indigenous Youth Education Package is aimed at boosting school attendance, attracting teachers to remote Australia and supporting high school students.

The funding is also aimed at giving a greater number of students access to mentoring and support to help them get through their secondary studies.

Here are some of the highlights in this year’s Budget for Indigenous Australians, from housing to education and health.

Education:

• $36.4 million over five years for extending the Family Tax Benefit to families of ABSTUDY recipients aged 16 years and over who study away from home.
• $5 million for getting kids to school through working with communities and schools to invest in remote and very remote areas for projects that support and promote school attendance.
• $200 million for the Indigenous Youth Education Package to give students support and mentoring to get through their secondary studies. The package also includes a $2.1 million investment in the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS) to construct a new Alumni Boarding House providing 18 beds for MITS alumni girls, creating a culturally strong home base for students while they attend their new schools. The package will fund additional secondary school scholarships and residential support for students who move away from home to study.

Housing:

• $37.5 million to support better housing for residents of remote Indigenous communities in South Australia.
• $35 million allocated from the Indigenous Advancement Strategy for safer homes and communities for services focused on supporting Indigenous women and girls impacted by family violence and prevention strategies with boys and men.

Health:

• $5 million over four years to implement Indigenous suicide prevention initiatives led by local Indigenous youth leaders. The initiatives will be regionally specific and tailored to the needs of individual communities.

• $2.5 million over four years for the eSafety Commissioner as part of the 4th Action Plan of the National Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. The eSafety Commissioner will work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in communities across Australia to identify, report and protect themselves and their children from technology-facilitated abuse.

Jobs:

• The $5.2 billion Indigenous Advancement Strategy will be continued with targeted programs and activities to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians can take advantage of the opportunities that are being created by the economy.
• $62.4 million over four years under the Skills Package to support participation in the labour market with VET, language, literacy, numeracy, digital literacy skills assistance in remote communities tailored to meet the specific needs of Indigenous Australians leading to better outcomes for communities as a whole.
• $35 million contribution to support securing tourism and jobs in Kakadu in Jabiru.
• $30 million over four years for the Barkly Regional deal which will deliver short, medium and long-term initiatives to support economic and social development in the region.

Government:

• $7.3 million to undertake a co-design process with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to detail options for a Voice.