Self-determined solutions to reduce the over-representation of Indigenous people in custody have been ignored in Victoria's budget, the state's Indigenous legal service says.
The state budget handed down this week included a $13.8 billion spending package — underpinned by a $1 billion surplus — even as Victoria's debt is forecast to climb to close to $200 billion by the end of the decade.
The budget allocates $200 million to increase capacity in the state's prison system, which has seen numbers swell since harsher bail and youth crime laws were introduced, as well as more than $100 million for a specialist youth court and $80 million for early intervention programs targeting youth crime.
Victoria Police will also receive $222 million in funding.
The first budget since last year's historic Treaty negotiations between the state and the First Peoples' Assembly was finalised was described by Treasurer Jaclyn Symes as one of careful choices and difficult decisions. However, it has been criticised by the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) for offering no new investment in Aboriginal legal services.
"The lack of investment in self-determined justice solutions will be crippling to the ACCO sector," VALS chief executive Nerita Waight said.
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Noting Aboriginal people make up 17 per cent of the total youth justice population and 26 per cent of the adult prison population in Victoria, VALS said Aboriginal organisations are receiving only 0.4 per cent of the $734 million allocated to community safety and policing.
"It is clear that the government does not intend to support Aboriginal communities but instead enable the generational cycle of hyperincarceration to grow," a spokesperson said. "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."
Ms Waight argued the budget amounted to a "targeted denial of service and supports that would have achieved the collective goal of community safety".
Last year, the state introduced new sentencing laws that will see some young people found guilty of certain crimes face life imprisonment. The government has acknowledged the changes will drive up Indigenous incarceration rates.
"Signing a Treaty doesn't mean you've signed away problems you've created," Ms Waight said. "The government can no longer claim that the harm caused by their policies and investments is 'unintended consequences', when it is clear the outcome will be the mass incarceration of our people."
VALS said the budget goes against Priority Reform 2 of the Closing the Gap agreement, which calls for strengthening the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector.
While it includes investment in Aboriginal-led investigations of Child Protection reports, VALS argued that "funding Aboriginal organisations to deliver the statutory function of child protection is not self-determination".
In response to the budget, the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) welcomed some government commitments but said funding needed to be recalibrated to "centre innovative Aboriginal community-led solutions that lead to thriving communities".
"Investment in new Aboriginal-led initiatives remains modest relative to the scale of need and the reform required to achieve better outcomes for Aboriginal children, young people and families," a VACCA spokesperson said.
Victoria has the highest rate of Indigenous children in out-of-home care (OOHC) in the country, with VACCA warning the state will not meet its Closing the Gap targets without greater investment in Aboriginal-led prevention, early intervention and evidence-building initiatives.
VACCA acting deputy chief executive Megan Van Den Berg said the state would not reduce the over-representation of Indigenous people in the Child Protection or youth justice systems, or in family violence, without "proportionate investment in the Aboriginal community-led models that work and that are necessary for community".
"For VACCA to continue to deliver life-changing, holistic and integrated programs that close the gap, a complete reimagining of funding models is required. We know that Aboriginal-led and designed programs do achieve the best outcomes in our communities," she said.
"Timely access to services and supports - in child and family services; family violence prevention, response and healing; education; homelessness prevention; and crime prevention and community safety - can only be achieved with appropriate funding."
