The Victorian government has delivered its first state budget following its commitment to First Peoples through Statewide Treaty. The 2026/27 budget is being heralded as being for Victorian families, with investments to make life easier, safer and more affordable, the Treasurer has regarded this budget as “responsible” and that it was delivered through “careful choices”. What is clear from the decisions made, is that in the first year of Victoria’s Treaty, Aboriginal self-determined solutions to address the overrepresentation of our people in the justice system were blatantly overlooked and ignored. This so called “careful choice” will hurt Aboriginal communities.
In the announcement there was no new investment in Aboriginal Legal Services, despite $512 million dollars being invested in community safety measures, a further $222 million in supporting Victoria’s Police and $10 million for Victoria Legal Aid. This Labor government have again, failed to properly invest in services that are critical in supporting Aboriginal people. Right now, 17% of the total Youth Justice population, and 26% of the total adult justice population are Aboriginal.
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) received just 0.4 per cent of the $734 million worth of funding allocated to community safety measures and investment in Victoria Police. The minimal funding allocated to VALS under the banner of ‘Adult Time for Violent Crime’ had been announced and distributed last year and was $57 million short of keeping up with the demand of Aboriginal children and young people in meeting the vagaries of this unequal legal system.
It is clear that the government does not intend to support Aboriginal communities but instead enable the generational cycle of hyperincaceration to grow. VALS will continue to advocate for the government to support self-determined justice responses that will close the gap, even if those calls continue to fall on deaf ears.
VALS welcomes the investments in some areas, including the extension of funding for the Victim’s Legal Service, this is a critical service VALS runs through partnership which supports First Nations community members who are impacted by crime. VALS is pleased to see ongoing funding of $39 million for the Aboriginal led First Nations health response to public intoxication. This reform has saved countless lives. We’re disappointed that this budget does not allocate enough funding to expand the successful health response to a statewide service. VALS also welcomes the announcement of funding to Aboriginal Community Justice Panels, an important program which assists Aboriginal persons in contact with the criminal legal system.
This budget goes against this government’s commitment under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and Priority Reform Two, which calls for strengthening the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector. The only investment under the specific funding allocation ‘Advancing Aboriginal self-determination and Closing the Gap’, was investment in Aboriginal-led investigations of Child Protection reports. Funding Aboriginal organisations to deliver the statutory function of child protection is not self-determination.
When we know the vast majority of children in youth justice have had involvement with child protection, government should have invested in supporting our children and families early, where they need it the most, before they come into contact with the youth justice system through the child protection system.
Last year we saw a suite of harmful legislative reforms that have resulted in the mass incarceration of our young people and adults. This budget does nothing but undermine our capacity to deliver high quality legal assistance to our people, alongside community justice supports wherever they live in Victoria. Ultimately, it’s Aboriginal people who are missing out again and only left with mere words on a piece of paper. That is not upholding the intention of treaty, nor our rights protected through Treaty.
Quotes Attributable to Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service:
“Victoria’s Budget boasted to be ‘Easier. Safer. More affordable’…not for my people, not for the community members VALS represents and supports. The lack of investment in self-determined justice solutions will be crippling to the ACCO sector. This is targeted denial of service and supports that would have achieved the collective goal of community safety. Signing a Treaty doesn’t mean you’ve signed away problems you’ve created. The government can no longer claim that the harm caused by their policies and investments are ‘unintended consequences’, when it is clear the outcome will be the mass incarceration of our people.”