The Albanese Government is helping First Nations children get the best start in life, expanding the successful Connected Beginnings program to Ballarat with $1.8 million provided to the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative.

The program connects First Nations children aged zero to five with a range of early childhood health, education, and family support services – helping children meet the learning and development milestones necessary to achieve a positive transition to school.

The largest remote housing investment in Northern Territory was signed today at the remote community of Milikapiti on the Tiwi Islands.

The new 10-year remote housing partnership agreement is designed to halve overcrowding in Aboriginal communities.

The Partnership Agreement represents a new way of working collaboratively with Aboriginal communities and housing organisations towards a better remote housing system across the Territory’s 73 remote communities.

The largest remote housing investment in Northern Territory was signed today at the remote community of Milikapiti on the Tiwi Islands.

The new 10-year remote housing partnership agreement is designed to halve overcrowding in Aboriginal communities.

The Partnership Agreement represents a new way of working collaboratively with Aboriginal communities and housing organisations towards a better remote housing system across the Territory’s 73 remote communities.

MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: Lots to talk about. Let’s bring in the Finance Minister and Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, from Parliament House. Minister, very good morning to you.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Good morning, Michael.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has released a new scorecard on progress in the Commonwealth public sector towards gender equality.

The report, which is an Australian first, looks at the actions public sector employers are taking to drive gender equality and to highlight areas that need improvement.

Minister for Women and the Public Service, Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher, said the Albanese Government is focused on improving equality for women and the Commonwealth public sector should be a model employer.

OLIVER PETERSON, HOST: We bumped our next guest yesterday for the Prime Minister, but Patrick Gorman is the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and the Member for Perth. And he joins me in the studio today. Patrick, good to see you.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE: Good to see you Oly, I did worry that the Prime Minister had such a good time yesterday that you might bump me for a second day in a row, go back to back.

PETERSON: I apologise.

Thank you, Sarah. And thank you to Aunty Julie. Just to pay my respects to you and the traditional owners of this country from the lands where I come from, the Yanyuwa people. It is so wonderful to be here with all of you. It has been an incredibly long journey, not physically so much as it has been emotionally for so many families here, but also right across the APY and Central Australia and here in South Australia.

Towards a culture of collaboration

Reaching out. Welcoming others in. Collaborating. Achieving. This has not always been the image of the modern Australian Public Service.

But every one in this room is committed to changing this. We know that in 2024 we need to work even harder for a public service that puts the Australian people and business at the absolute centre. And to do this, we must reject parts of the culture that has dominated the public service for much of Federation.

Community consultations on the design of the Remote Jobs and Economic Development (RJED) program are underway with a constructive session in Beagle Bay and in communities throughout WA.

The Minister joined the consultation in Beagle Bay today.

Local Beagle Bay community including community leaders, job seekers and potential employers can apply for funding to create new jobs in their community when the new program starts later this year.

Beagle Bay is one of around 200 remote communities being consulted on how the new program should work in practice.

First Nations Australians with severe kidney disease will have better access to lifesaving treatment with the opening of a new Coober Pedy renal dialysis clinic. 

The Coober Pedy clinic is the first to open under the Albanese Labor Government’s $73.2 million Better Renal Services for First Nations Peoples initiative.

First Nations adults are twice as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to have chronic kidney disease and almost 4 times as likely to die from chronic kidney disease.