National Congress of Australia's First Peoples

220. National Congress of Australia's First Peoples went into voluntary administration in 2019. The Government provided National Congress $5.4 million between 2013-17 for National Representative Body Consultation and approximately $3.3 million between 2016-19 for capability projects.
221. The Government invested $3 million across the next 3 financial years to assist in establishing the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute for First Nations Gender Justice. The Institute's key focus will be to undertake multidisciplinary research and initiatives to identify root causes of intersectional discrimination and other systemic barriers impacting the lives of First Nations women and girls.

Safe, secure and affordable housing

222. The Government committed to a comprehensive housing agenda which includes the National Housing Accord, the Housing Australia Future Fund, the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness (NASHH) with states and territories, the Social Housing Accelerator Fund, and the National Housing Infrastructure Facility - through which the Government has targeted an additional $1 billion toward crisis and transitional accommodation for youth, and for women and children fleeing domestic violence.
223. The Government, with states and territories is developing a National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
224. Established in 2023, the Housing Australia Future Fund is a key element of the Government's commitment to boost supply of social and affordable housing, to support 30,000 new social and affordable housing dwellings in its first 5 years. Disbursements from the Fund will provide:
     • $200 million for repair, maintenance and improvements of housing in remote Indigenous communities;
     • $100 million for crisis and transitional housing for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence, and older women at risk of homelessness;
     • $24 million for capital works projects providing additional crisis and transitional housing stock for veterans and their families. An additional $6 million to fund specialist support services for those in the veteran community experiencing, or are at risk of, homelessness.
225. Closing the Gap includes a target that 88% of Indigenous people be in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing by 2031. At the 2021 Census, 81.4% of Indigenous people were living in appropriately sized housing.
226. Agreed in 2020 and established under Closing the Gap, the Housing Policy Partnership is a key mechanism to deliver outcomes for Indigenous housing and provides a forum for Indigenous people to engage in design and delivery of First Nations housing services.
227. NASHH is a 5 year agreement providing $9.3 billion to states and territories to assist people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. Under the agreement, the Government provides a funding component of around $400 million a year. States and territories are required to match their share of homelessness funding. Indigenous people are the only priority homelessness cohort specified in the NASHH, addressing disproportionate housing inequality affecting Indigenous people. NASHH requires decisions affecting Indigenous people to be decided in partnership with Indigenous communities and state government.
228. At the federal level, initiatives to ensure safe, secure and affordable housing for First Nations women, includes $172.6 million over 7 years for the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program, which provides capital works grants to support building, renovation or purchase of emergency accommodation supporting women and children experiencing FDV. Of this, $100 million will deliver Safe Places Inclusion Round focused on improving access to appropriate emergency accommodation for First Nations women and children, women and children of CALD backgrounds, and women and children with disability.