The Coalition Government is making the right choices, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people big winners from the 2017/18 federal budget. 
 
The cross-portfolio budget investment delivered fairness, opportunity and security – for all Australians, especially First Australians.
 
Governments should do all they can to ensure our First Australians have every opportunity the wider community enjoys to get a good education and work in a good job, and feel secure in their homes, workplaces, streets and shops.
 
Our policies are going a long way to delivering on this for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
 
The Coalition Government’s cross-portfolio investment in initiatives to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people includes:
 
* $55.7m to help Close the Gap in Indigenous employment by strengthening the engagement between employment services providers and Indigenous communities and providing enhanced support for Indigenous participants;
 
* $146.9 million in business support for Indigenous entrepreneurs including tailored loans and capital assistance;
 
* $11 million to develop and implement a Community Development Programme youth engagement strategy in collaboration with remote schools;
 
* $113 million to expand the ParentsNext initiative to 30 locations to provide intensive support to help increase the participation of Indigenous parents in the labour market;
 
* $15 million for new Indigenous Protected Areas in addition to those already declared or under consultation as part of the Indigenous Protected Areas Network;
 
* $5.9 million to help close the gap in literacy achievement, trialling the use of play-based digital applications to improve English literacy outcomes for Indigenous children in 20 preschools across the country;
* $33 million through the Boosting the Local Care Workforce initiative to support more regional workers, including First Australians, to meet the demand of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and an ageing population;
* $39 million for Community Legal Centres to support victims of domestic violence;
* $16.7 million for Indigenous Legal Assistance Providers to assist in addressing Indigenous incarceration rates;
* $0.4 million for the supply of medicine through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to clients of Remote Area Aboriginal Health Services;
* $18.8 million to continue the Rheumatic Fever Strategy including expansion to at-risk communities;
* $52.9 million to enhance research and evaluation in Indigenous Affairs, including the establishment of an Indigenous Research Fund.
 
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