Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders have raised concerns over the sidelining of First Nations issues this federal election campaign, with some arguing Labor has retreated since the defeat of the Voice while the Coalition is openly hostile to Indigenous-led solutions.

Opposition spokesperson Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who this month said she wanted to "make Australia great again", has so far revealed few specific policy reforms for First Nations people, apart from a commitment of $115.9 million to support Indigenous students attending boarding schools.

Senator Price's main plans—an audit of Indigenous organisations and a Royal Commission into sexual abuse in remote communities—have remained central, attracting criticism from more than 100 Indigenous organisations who said yet another inquiry would be divisive and unnecessary.

Earlier this year, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, argued the focus on abuse only in Indigenous communities was a "political ploy that would not make one child safe".

"Mr Dutton first made these claims in 2023, and hundreds of organisations and individuals rejected his stance, instead calling for action on solutions backed by evidence. It is beyond disappointing we have not been heard," SNAICC chief executive Catherine Liddle said.

This month, the Country Liberal candidate for Lingiari, Larrakia woman Lisa Siebert, broke ranks with Mr Dutton and Senator Price, saying any inquiry into abuse should be broadened to investigate non-Indigenous cases as well.

Senator Price said this month that $34 billion was being spent annually in Indigenous Affairs, based on a 2017 report.

"We don't know what the current figure is at the moment, but what we do know is that closing the gap measures are going backward and we do know that despite the fact that we spend billions of dollars in Indigenous Affairs, nothing is changing to improve the lives of marginalised Indigenous Australians," she said.

In an opinion piece for National Indigenous Times, the Senator set out her top five priorities if the Coalition is elected.

Karl Briscoe, chief executive of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner and Health Worker Association, told NITV a "reset" shouldn't just mean "shifting the blame".

"[The 2017 report] shows $27.4 billion of the $33 billion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians actually goes to mainstream (not Aboriginal community-controlled) organisations," Kuku Yalanji man said.

"We welcome a conversation, but it must be rounded in fairness and honesty."

Senator Price has criticised land councils and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), arguing the latter shouldn't be the preferred choice for leading closing the gap solutions. However, the Productivity Commission last year recommended governments recognise the expertise of ACCOs in what works for their communities.

Commissioner Romlie Mokak, a Djugun man and member of the Yawuru people, said "efforts to improve outcomes are far more likely to succeed when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lead their design and implementation… Nothing will change until this model of partnership, based on genuine power sharing, becomes the rule and not the exception".

Last week, the Coalition's plan to reinstate the activity test for parents wishing to access childcare was panned as "retrograde" by Indigenous advocates.

In February, Labor and the Greens voted for the three-day guarantee, which will abolish the Liberal-era Activity Test and allow families to access three days a week of subsidised early childhood education, regardless of how much they work or study. The abolition of the test was welcomed by Indigenous childhood education and care experts who argued evidence showed "vulnerable children get the greatest benefit from accessing quality ECEC".

Ms Liddle, the SNAICC chief, said the latest data revealed developmental readiness for schools was "worsening".

"We simply cannot afford to remove equitable ECEC subsidies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children," she said.

"It's more important than ever that we see a bipartisan commitment to quality Early Childhood education and care to ensure our children get the best start in life. We urge the Coalition to reconsider their retrograde stance on the Activity Test."

Labor has also pivoted to stressing their focus on "practical" measures.

The federal party walked away from national truth-telling / a Makarrata commission in the March budget, and has focussed on funding mental health and domestic violence services in Indigenous communities, subsidising remote grocery costs, and upgrading infrastructure like seawalls in the Torres Strait.

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, struck a starkly different tune to Senator Price in her own piece for National Indigenous Times, which set out an agenda focussed on job creation, closing the gap, housing, food security and ranger programs - which deliver employment and environmental protection.

Uluru Youth Dialogue co-chairs Bridget Cama and Allira Davis said communities are concerned the resounding "No" vote on the Voice to parliament is creeping into other Indigenous policy areas, a view reinforced by state-level Liberals and Nationals backflipping on their support for state-based voice and truth-telling.

"We are worried politics is freezing Aboriginal Australia in time, in October 2023," they told AAP.

"What no one talks about is (economic empowerment) hasn't closed the gap. It has worked to create a burgeoning elite middle and business class, which is great, but it is not helping the vast numbers of those left behind."

Last week, former Liberal Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt said there is a real possibility of a future class action against all levels of government for their failure to close the gap.

Mr Wyatt told NITV's The Point that all jurisdictions signed off on the Closing the Gap agreement, including national and state cabinets, indicating broad consensus for the plan.

"20 years' time from now, I think it's quite feasible someone could go to a class action lawyer and say all tiers of government have failed, therefore could you take a class action on our behalf," Mr Wyatt said.

The latest Closing the Gap figures revealed just five of the 19 metrics are on target, with a backward slide in the rate of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care (OOHC), youth incarceration, and rates of suicide. Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are being locked up at 27 times the rate of non-Indigenous people, whilst OOHC, so often a direct precursor to contact with the youth justice system, sees Indigenous children removed from their families at 10.4 times the rate of non-Indigenous children.

Gunnai, Gunditjmara, and Djab Wurrung senator, Lidia Thorpe, wrote this week in National Indigenous Times: "If you want Truth, Treaty, and real accountability, back the voices who've been fighting for them. This means not voting for either of the two major parties. When you vote, put progressive minor parties and independents ahead of Labor and the Coalition on your ballot."

"Together, we can push Labor into a minority government so they will be forced to work more with outside voices," she said.

While some Australians have already cast their vote, this Saturday will see the majority of voters go to the polls in what could prove an important turning point in the future of policies impacting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.