Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Kerrynne Liddle says the federal department responsible for First Nations policy is failing to meet key Closing the Gap targets.
The South Australian Senator — elevated to the shadow front bench this year — made the remarks after the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), including new CEO Julie-Ann Guivarra, appeared at Senate Estimates on Monday.
According to NIAA's 2024-25 report, despite a target of 100 per cent completion to "build and maintain effective partnerships to support the empowerment and self-determination of First Nations peoples," only 20 per cent of Empowered Communities regions had refreshed their Local Partnership Agreements by June 30.
At Estimates, Senator Liddle highlighted the figure, stating: "That's pretty low—20 per cent achievement?"
Deborah Fulton, NIAA's Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Policy and Programs, responded that the Department was tracking the number of Local Partnership Agreements established under Empowered Communities, noting "we had anticipated that we would be able to have all 10 in place".
"We didn't achieve that, as you pointed out, but that has been a very rich process of working at that local level to determine what should be in those local partnership agreements," she said.
"It has taken more time than we anticipated, but has been quite a useful piece of work around shared decision-making and understanding our joint priorities. We have six of those now signed. Three are well progressed. There's still a little bit more work to do."
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Senator Liddle argued the gap between the targets and results suggested that these may not be the organisation's best placed to make decisions about Closing the Gap service delivery.
"We just keep hearing that that's exactly what people want," she said.
"They're demanding that there's more consultation at a local level, but we've got only 20 per cent. It doesn't connect with the narrative that we're hearing. Where's the gap here? Is it them, or is it bureaucracy?"
In its annual report, the Department describes Empowered Communities as "one of the NIAA's formal partnerships demonstrating the strong partnership elements of Priority Reform One: formal partnerships and shared decision-making", aimed at working in "genuine partnership to enable the self-determination and aspirations of First Nations communities".
They are led by First Nations leaders from each of the 10 regions who are supported by backbone organisations, the NIAA says.
Senator Liddle warned of duplication, unnecessary costs, and the need for a clearer strategy to manage overlapping governance structures.
She called on Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy to address the NIAA's missed targets and clarify how Empowered Communities will operate alongside emerging bodies such as the First Peoples' Assembly and State Voices; such as the South Australian Voice.
"It is not a good start when the services you intend to hand over more responsibility to are not doing what is needed to get the deal done," Senator Liddle said.
"Minister McCarthy must produce a more concrete plan to avoid unnecessary costs and to redirect funding where there is obvious risk of duplication."
Senator McCarthy told Estimates: "With the First Peoples' Assembly, it's not so much newly established...Clearly, there is a lot for us, at the Commonwealth level, to learn from the process. We did have the First Peoples' assembly come and brief the First Nations caucus here so that we could fully comprehend, as best we could, what that relationship is between the First Peoples' assembly and the Victorian government."
Regarding Empowered Communities, she added: "Clearly, we have to look at that from the Commonwealth perspective as to how we're progressing our negotiations with them."
