Background
In July 2020, Australian governments and First Nations communities committed to working together in partnership under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (‘the National Agreement’).
Under the National Agreement, the Victorian Government is required to ‘review and identify current spending on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and services’.
To meet its commitment, the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet is seeking to report on two types of Victorian Government spending.
- Targeted expenditure: Expenditure on programs or services that are specifically designed to support First Nations communities (for example, expenditure on First Peoples community housing).
- Non-targeted expenditure: First Peoples’ share of expenditure on programs or services that are relevant to all Victorians (for example, expenditure on the hospital system, school system and other general government services).
This is the first time this exercise has been undertaken.
The Expenditure Review will provide policy makers with financial and non-financial data to inform future resource allocation.
Scope of this report
This report presents the estimated targeted expenditure in Victoria relating to First Peoples.
Language
Inside Policy and Taylor Fry recognise the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Victoria. Throughout this document, we use the term ‘First Peoples’ and ‘Aboriginal’ to include all people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent living in Victoria.
In referring to Victorian Government departments, in parts of the report we omit ‘Department of’ from their official name for brevity. For example, we refer to the ‘Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’ as ‘Families, Fairness and Housing’.
Updated