Julian Leeser will use his speech at Garma as Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians to outline what he describes as a "new direction" for the portfolio following the defeat of the Voice referendum.

In a copy of his speech, to be delivered at the Garma Festival on Friday and seen by National Indigenous Times, Mr Leeser — who was reappointed to lead the shadow Indigenous Australians portfolio under Opposition Leader Angus Taylor — will also argue the framework underpinning the Closing the Gap agreement is often an ineffective policy guide because many targets rely on infrequently updated data.

"We report on these 19 targets annually, but we do not collect data on them annually," he will say. "Only 8 of the 19 targets are updated from one year to the next."

Some data is updated only every census period — every five years — which Mr Leeser will note spans two electoral cycles. While describing the agreement as an "extraordinary achievement" that brought governments and peak bodies together, he argues the limitations of the data are rarely acknowledged in public reporting.

"Instead, progress tends to be reduced to the number of targets that are on track and the number that aren't," he will say.

"Because the targets are not effective or regularly measurable, it makes it harder for leaders and policy-makers — ministers, public servants, peak bodies — to know whether their interventions are effective."

Move on from the Voice

Mr Leeser, who resigned from the shadow cabinet under Peter Dutton over his support for the Voice referendum, was one of the few conservatives to back constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians.

Whilst acknowledging the shared position he and the Prime Minister held during the referendum, Mr Leeser will argue there has been a fundamental inability by the government to move forward in the Indigenous policy space after its defeat.

"Since the defeat of the Voice, he [the Prime Minister] just hasn't gotten off the mat," he will say. "It is time to get off the mat."

Post-Voice, his speech argues the country needs to find a "way forward that is defined by greater autonomy and flexibility in our approach to Indigenous policy".

"I believe communities can and should direct their own futures — and that this includes being accountable for outcomes. And I believe that we should focus on improvements that are generational."

Community leaders have argued the federal government has stalled on Indigenous affairs since the referendum defeat in 2023, with the two other elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart — Truth and Treaty — making little progress.

Those are positions the Coalition has opposed, with MPs speaking out against truth-telling and treaty processes in Victoria, as well as calls for it to be enacted on a national level.

More ambition needed

Claiming the government has been "adrift" and lacking a "clear direction and sense of purpose" in the portfolio, Mr Leeser will argue there should instead be greater ambition. He singled out the government's remote jobs program, which is expected to deliver 6,000 jobs in remote communities by the end of the decade.

"We must do better than that," he will say. "A country must be ambitious about its own people. After all, if leaders don't see a big future for our children, how can we build it for them?

The government has heavily promoted its Remote Jobs and Economic Development (RJED) program, which replaced the Coalition-era Community Development Program (CDP).

In her op-ed for National Indigenous Times in June, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said the RJED was "changing lives in remote First Nations communities"

"[It is] delivering the dignity of work with decent pay and conditions."

Economic development

In his speech, Mr Leeser will argue education is the most effective long-term lever for improving Indigenous outcomes while outlining three policy priorities: improving school attendance and completion, making Indigenous suicide prevention — which he labels a national tragedy — a priority, and unlocking economic development through Indigenous land and business.

On the latter, he will highlight data showing the average number of contracts won by Indigenous businesses and corporations has more than doubled since 2015, arguing the figures "do not show a reliance on government contracts across the ecosystem".

Rather, while the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) helps businesses in the start-up stage, he will say many first-time recipients go on to "receive larger contracts that sit outside the framework," suggesting governments should focus on removing barriers to capital and investment rather than relying solely on spending.

"We know that Indigenous businesses work. We know that they provide benefits that cascade through communities and which do not need to be reliant on government," he will say.

"Why shouldn't we support the development of Indigenous investment institutions that partner with local communities to generate wealth?

"Why shouldn't we aim to develop a mature and thriving market that sees policies like the Indigenous Procurement Policy sunset, for the simple reason that it is no longer needed?"

The federal government has also focused on economic development, with the Prime Minister using last year's Garma Festival to announce an economic partnership with the Coalition of Peaks and the First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance.

The partnership allows Traditional Owners to advocate for infrastructure, housing and energy projects on their land while building equity beyond land rights.

"This builds on our commitment to the Closing the Gap Agreement, to its call for a new way of doing business and to the principle of shared decision-making," Mr Albanese said at the time.