The Turnbull Government will invest an additional $138 million to increase opportunities and improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
The 1967 Referendum 50th Anniversary Indigenous Education Package will support First Australians through their education and into employment.
The announcement today honours the spirit and determination of those who campaigned for the successful 1967 referendum, and will further enable the social and economic inclusion for which they fought.
The referendum, one of Australia's greatest acts of reconciliation to date, enabled the Commonwealth to make laws relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and for our First Australians, who had always been here, to finally be counted in the official population.
A key component of the Education Package is a $25 million fund to leverage partnerships between governments, businesses, industry and philanthropic organisations to offer scholarships to First Australians to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The fund will support the development of a STEM academy for girls to inspire a future generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women into STEM jobs.
The Indigenous education package offers the same level of assistance to girls and boys and builds on the Government’s significant investment in Indigenous education through mentoring, scholarships and school-based academies.
A summary of the education package is available here.