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Aboriginal Affairs Spending

WA now spends about a billion dollars a year on Aboriginal-specific programs, and the total is growing fast. The Government's own review admits it can't show whether a large share of programs work. This page is about systems, incentives and disclosure. It is not about Aboriginal people or any particular organisation, and many community-run programs report good results.

Headline figures

  • $1.02bn: the 2023-24 budget for direct Aboriginal expenditure, up from $759.4m spent in 2022-23. (WA Aboriginal Expenditure Review)
  • 131 of 403: programs never evaluated. Agencies gave no information on another 105. (same source)
  • 42% of programs, 3% of the money: 169 small programs. (same source)
  • 3 targets going backwards in WA: healthy birthweight, early childhood development and adult imprisonment. (Productivity Commission)
  • $4.8m: identified overcharging on public housing maintenance (2019–24), with up to about $12m a year more possible. (OAG)

Findings

1. Spending up fast, evidence lagging

  • Fact: WA spent $759.4m on direct Aboriginal expenditure in 2022-23 across 403 programs, about 2% of general government spending. The 2023-24 budget was $1.02bn. Of the 403 programs, 167 had been evaluated, 131 had never been evaluated, and for 105 agencies gave no information (AER 2023-24, Table 13).
  • Our read: More than half the programs (236 of 403) have no evaluation the Government can point to. Evidence should come before budget growth.

2. Where the money goes

  • Fact: Six agencies account for 80% of direct spending. Communities is the largest at $208.9m, then WA Health at $127.6m. Aboriginal organisations were "involved" in delivering programs worth $403.5m (53.2%) (AER).
  • Our read: Being "involved" in delivery is not the same as receiving the money. The review doesn't show how much reaches Aboriginal organisations versus departmental administration. That missing number is itself a finding.

3. Nationally, the evidence has been thin for a decade

  • Fact: In 2016 the Productivity Commission found only 34 of more than 1,000 Indigenous programs had been rigorously evaluated (ABC). There has been no national Indigenous Expenditure Report since 2017 (PC).
  • Fact: The PC's 2024 Closing the Gap review found most government actions "relabel business-as-usual", with up to 70% being existing programs. It recommended legislated independent oversight (PC review).

4. Leakage in service delivery

  • Fact: The Auditor General found 24-30% of audited housing maintenance work orders were non-compliant, mostly because contractors charged above schedule rates. Only 5.7% of orders were audited, $4.8m in overpayments was identified for 2019-24, and possible further overcharging of about $12m a year was estimated. The audit covers the head maintenance contract, including remote Aboriginal housing (OAG).
  • Our read: "Aboriginal spending" often flows to mainstream contractors while tenants wait for repairs. The OAG's finding is about weak contract control. It is not an allegation against any firm.

5. Native title settlements and trusts

  • Fact: The South West (Noongar) Settlement pays $50m a year into the Noongar Future Fund plus $10m a year in operating funding for 12 years, indexed, from 2021. Perpetual Trustee is the initial trustee (DPC). The Yamatji Nation agreement is $442m over 15 years (WA Govt).
  • Our read: These are legal settlements of rights, not handouts. The accountability question is whether trustee and corporate operating costs are published, and whether families can see the benefit.

6. The heritage law fiasco

  • Fact: The ACH Act was in force for about five weeks before repeal was announced. The Government declined to table the legal advice behind the repeal (OAG opinion). See also Green Energy & Red Tape, finding 6.

7. The review gets its own growth rate wrong

  • Fact: The Aboriginal Expenditure Review's summary says direct spending grew 28.8%, but its body says 22.8%, and its own dollar figures ($618m to $759.4m) give 22.9%. A further 34.4% increase was budgeted for 2023-24 (AER 2023-24).

8. FEDERAL context (not WA): Canberra's Indigenous procurement exemptions

  • Fact (Commonwealth, not WA): The federal Auditor-General found that 63% of Commonwealth contracts (1,475, worth $69.3bn) were exempted from the Indigenous Procurement Policy's mandatory employment and supply requirements from Jul 2016 to Sep 2024. About a third of exemptions (34%, $30.2bn) were simply ticked "other" (ANAO Report 40, 2024-25). This is a federal program, not a WA Government one.

What we'd do: Money to People, Not Process

  • A statutory annual Aboriginal Expenditure and Outcomes Report, showing the cost of every program, how much goes to organisations outside the department, and its outcome measure.
  • Sunset and evaluate: no program renewed without an independent, published evaluation.
  • Open books for any grant recipient over $1m: overhead ratio and executive pay.
  • Direct-benefit pilots, such as community-held budgets and letting tenants choose their repair contractor.
  • Let Aboriginal landholders use and lease their own land with less red tape.
  • Back the Productivity Commission's call for legislated independent oversight.