A new economic focus for the government’s Indigenous relations strategy has been declared by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, nearly a year after the Voice to Parliament referendum was defeated.
The Prime Minister unveiled a new First Nations Economic Partnership, including $20 million in support for a new tertiary education center named the Garma Institute, while speaking at Garma, an annual Indigenous festival on Yolnu land in northeast Arnhem Land.
“We have to make a new path and we have to walk it together,” Albanese stated.
While acknowledging the referendum’s setback in his statement today, Albanese maintained his optimism in bringing about change for Indigenous Australians.
“I have not come back to this place of fire, to rake through the ashes,” he stated. “I am here because my optimism for a better future still burns.”
The government’s emphasis will be redirected toward job creation and economic development with the announcement of the First Nations Economic Partnership.
It is intended to link investors, workers, and remote communities while also extending the use of renewable energy sources. “This is about good jobs that change lives and strengthen communities,” Albanese stated.
Indigenous Australians’ lives could be altered by the government’s new economic focus, according to the Coalition of the Peaks.
Certain Indigenous organizations supported the government’s new emphasis on the economy.
“People have access to housing if they have jobs,” said Professor Scott Wilson, Deputy Co-Convenor of the Coalition of the Peaks.
However, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, was not persuaded by Albanese’s remarks today.
“The prime minister has failed in his term of government,” Price stated.
