29 April, 2025

INTERVENTION by the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council.

Thank you, Madam/Mister Chairperson,

We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors, past and present, and extend our appreciation to the Indigenous experts and participants at this session.

I speak on behalf of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council. Today, we make urgent recommendations to the Permanent Forum and the international community.

We call on all States—and especially Australia—to:

1st. End short-term, competitive grant cycles and commit to long-term, secure funding models for Indigenous-led organisations.
2nd. Invest directly in Aboriginal-led organisations with proven success, strong governance, and deep community roots.
3rd. Protect statutory funds, such as the Aboriginal Land Rights Act’s fund, ensuring new government spending strengthens, rather than undermines, Aboriginal self-determination.
4th. Embed funding models within Closing the Gap targets and Australia’s international human rights obligations, with enforceable, long-term financial commitments.
5th. Shift to genuine partnerships, where governments work with and through Aboriginal governance structures—not impose bureaucratic, top-down controls.

For too long, governments—including Australia’s federal and state governments—have relied on fragmented, short-term grants to fund essential Aboriginal services.
This model is fundamentally flawed. It undermines community empowerment, stifles long-term planning, and fuels inefficiency.

Instead of empowering our organisations, Aboriginal bodies are forced to compete against one another for limited, inconsistent funding, undermining the very principles of Closing the Gap, and violating Australia’s human rights commitments.

The Australian Government must take decisive action. A structural shift is needed to move away from discretionary, politically driven funding—and toward guaranteed, sustainable investment in Aboriginal-led solutions.

The expertise, capacity, and cultural authority already exist within our organisations. What’s missing is the Australian Government’s political will to back Aboriginal leadership with the financial commitment required for lasting change.

We urge the Permanent Forum to press Australia to abandon paternalistic funding models and deliver on its obligations to First Nations peoples.

Always Was, Always Will Be.