The 2025–26 Federal Budget was delivered this week, with the Albanese government allocating $1.3 billion over six years to First Nations-specific investments.

While the figure sounds substantial, on the surface it thins out across dozens of line items.

The majority of business-related funding for First Nations was announced prior to Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivering his fourth iteration, with key measures designed to empower and grow the Indigenous business sector summarised below, with a full breakdown on the IBR and NIT websites.

A major component of the $1.3b is the $842.6 million investment in the Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment partnership to fund health, safety, and education services in remote communities. With $205m allocated to police, the approach has raised concerns if the funding will promote Closing the Gap objectives or risk undermining them.

The Budget also provides $506.4m over five years to support various measures under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, including:

$50m to reduce the cost of groceries in remote stores;

$36.7m for remote infrastructure in the Torres Strait;

$28.4m for seawall upgrades to combat climate impacts;

$24.7m to build a culturally safe mental health workforce (including scholarships for 150 First Nations psychology students);

$21.8m for family violence services;

$21.4m to build a nutrition workforce in remote communities;

$11.4m to build and maintain community laundries to reduce infection-related illnesses; and

$11m for First Nations languages policy work.

The measures were flagged in the 2023 Closing the Gap Annual Report, the 2024 Implementation Plan, and through MYEFO announcements. Given that, this Budget repackages existing commitments more than it reinvests or expands them.

Here are the main takeaways for the business sector:

BUSINESS

From an Indigenous perspective, the overall Budget is focused on health, housing, employment, education, community safety, food security and economic empowerment, with $1.3 billion over six years from 2024-25 allocated to those priority areas.

$3.4m over three years from 2025-26 to increase the number of First Nations women in business, through a place-based mentoring and coaching program, codesigned and delivered by Indigenous businesses and organisations in conjunction with Indigenous Business Australia.

An additional $137.3m over three years to replace the previous government's Community Development Program through a staged approach. The funds will support the transition between CDP arrangements and the Albanese government's original $707m allocation for its new Remote Jobs and Economic Development program for a four-month period until October 2025.

The redirection of $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 encourage intergenerational wealth building.

$23.9m over five years from 2024-25 to extend and strengthen the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), hopefully boosting opportunities for First Nations businesses to grow and create jobs. The IPP reforms also increase the integrity of the program by strengthening eligibility criteria, driving demand for First Nations businesses by increasing procurement targets. Under new criteria, businesses must demonstrate they are at least 51 per cent First Nations-owned and controlled (or registered with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations) to access IPP procurement contracts.

Consultation with regulators to improve methods of reporting black cladding (disingenuous conduct designed to gain access to policies like the IPP) is also on the table. This will help empower First Nations business owners accessing the IPP to run their businesses and exercise their rights as majority owners, with transition to the new criteria starting July 1 next year, with further details determined in coming months. The IPP changes will support economic empowerment for First Nations people and directly contribute to Closing the Gap and the Buy Australian Plan.

$13m over three years via the Saving Australia's Bushland Program, to further expand Indigenous Protected Areas.

$55.2m over four years from 2025-26 (and $14.1 million per year ongoing) to renew lease arrangements with Traditional Owners of the jointly-managed Booderee, Kakadu, and Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Parks.

The extension from 2026 to 2028 of the Murray-Darling Basin Indigenous River Rangers Program will improve environment and cultural outcomes, and leadership, employment and economic opportunities for First Nations people in water, land management and related fields.

The business incentives above sit alongside the previously announced Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment, valued at $842.6m, in a partnership with the NT Government and Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT. Pat Turner, lead convener of the Coalition of Peaks, which represents more than 80 Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and receives upwards of $4m funding from this Budget, said the changes were "encouraging".

"This budget gives us cause for cautious optimism; we've seen what's possible when governments work with us, not around us," she said.

Read more on the 2025 Budget impact on First Nations businesses and their reactions on the NIT and IBR websites.