As the Labor Party looks to hold office in the upcoming election, the issue of the Indigenous affairs portfolio and the policies of the two major parties has stood out.

Last week's budget - which focussed on tax cuts and cost-of-living measures - also featured funding for several Indigenous-led reforms previously touted by the government, focusing on economic prosperity, long-term wealth, and employment.

The government has redirected $70.9 million over two years through Indigenous Business Australia's (IBA) Home Loan Capital Fund to allow people - particularly single carer families - to buy their own home, and $23.9 million over five years from 2024–25 to strengthen the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), which the government says boost opportunities for First Nations businesses to grow and create jobs.

The transition between the much-maligned Liberal-era Community Development Program (CDP) and Labor's new remote employment service sees budget funding to the tune of $137.3 million as well as CDP funding for a further four months.

Asked what Labor is doing in the First Nations space, Muthi Muthi and Wamba-Wamba Senator Jana Stewart said: "If you speak to Minister [Malarndirri] McCarthy, she will say that her number one, two and three priorities are 'jobs, jobs, and jobs'. And I think that is a really great place to be."

"We know that when you've got the security of a good, well-paying job, you can put food on the table, you can send your babies to school. It really does start to lay the foundation for whatever else you want to achieve."

Last year, a report by the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs on the economic self-determination and opportunities for First Nations Australians called for a fundamental strategic transformation of the broader economic and fiscal policies to help increase Indigenous economic empowerment.

"It validates what Indigenous people have long known - the current system is holding back billions of dollars in potential Indigenous economic development," First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance Chair Professor Yu said at the time.

Speaking at the Garma Festival last year, the Prime Minister said Labor's Future Made in Australia agenda would improve economic outcomes for Indigenous communities through better private sector investment and borrowing.

He argued that investors, developers, companies, and job creators would have direct contact with communities in northern Australia and regional centres to boost employment and home ownership.

Research from Dilin Duwa, Woi Wurrung for "Everlasting Flow," found the "Indigenous ecosystem" makes an important contribution to the Australian economy.

It saw 13,693 active and alive (trading) businesses and corporations in 2022, which generated $16.1 billion in revenue, employed 116,795 people, and paid $4.2 billion in wages.

"We should be absolutely celebrating that success," Senator Stewart said. "And people should know that our Mob are savvy business people. We are this country's first innovators, traders [and] entrepreneurs."

The latest Closing the Gap figures painted a dire picture, with only four of the 19 targets on track. Many are actively going backwards. Senator Stewart said the statistics told a tale which cannot be ignored, arguing "those inequalities exist because of the history of this country".

"Governments have to be involved in rectifying that," she said. "And for a long time, we know that our mob haven't been at the table to come up with the solutions that actually work for our community."

At a recent 'meet politicians' event in Naarm, some community members expressed disappointment at the Senator's comments that "80 per cent of our Mob are doing okay".

Speaking to National Indigenous Times the day after the budget, the Victorian Senator said "Mob know the challenges that we're experiencing… it doesn't need to be repeated back to us or screamed through a microphone—our mob see and live it every day".

"What there is so much more room for is to have conversations and to amplify the opportunities…places where we're really kicking goals," she said.

"That doesn't necessarily always need to be in comparison to how the rest of the country are doing, just to celebrate our success in the face of systemic barriers."

The opposition has looked to position the latest Closing the Gap numbers as a failure by the Labor government to invest in remote Australia, arguing many have been abandoned.

However, at the time of publication, no substantive policies - other than an audit into Aboriginal organisations - have been announced by the Coalition that are aimed at helping Close the Gap.

Senator Stewart says while there "absolutely" needed to be more work done to help close the gap, there is also room to give Mob who aren't in as difficult a position "something to grab on to; to continue to build that intergenerational wealth for their community".

"It's not either-or; it's a both-and", she argued. "We need to be able to pull our people out of the trenches where they're doing it tough, and we need to be able to support the aspiration of our Mob where they want to continue to grow and build that intergenerational wealth."