Portfolio — 25 March 2026

The Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator McCarthy, had a dense day on 25 March 2026, spanning a major cross-portfolio launch, two pieces of substantive Senate business, and question time — all while carrying responsibilities well beyond her core portfolio.

The headline development was the launch of Our Ways Strong Together, the new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander National Peak Body for Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence, announced jointly with the Coalition of Peaks [TA-260325-pmc-658f70a9c1d5]. The peak body is funded from a $218.3 million investment in the Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices national plan and directly targets Closing the Gap Target 13, which commits to reducing family violence and abuse against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children by at least 50 per cent by 2031 [TA-260325-pmc-658f70a9c1d5].

The Minister for Social Services, Ms Plibersek, provided the statistical framing: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 7 times more likely to be victims of intimate partner homicide and 27 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be hospitalised due to family violence — a rate rising to 41 times in regional and very remote communities [TA-260325-pmc-658f70a9c1d5].

Olga Havnen, a Western Arrernte woman and 2025 Member of the Order of Australia appointee, was named CEO, with Donnella Mills as Interim Chair heading a board drawn from community-controlled health, child and legal services organisations. Senator McCarthy characterised the launch as delivering on the government's commitment to establish a national First Nations peak body and strengthening the community-controlled sector — language that carried directly into the Senate chamber later in the day.

In the Senate, during consideration of the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children Bill, Senator McCarthy defended community-controlled organisations against characterisation as an 'Aboriginal industry', stating they receive annual audits and are accountable to parliament through statutory reporting [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s020].

She argued a National Children's Commissioner is critical for First Nations children in out-of-home care, noting the Bringing Them Home report identified this need in 1997 and that 70 peak-body organisations now endorse the role, with rising out-of-home care figures in Victoria cited as evidence of urgency [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s022]. The appointment of Donnella Mills — simultaneously named Interim Chair of the newly launched peak body — as joint convener of a new joint council alongside the Minister reinforces the structural connection the government is drawing between the two streams of work.

Separately, Senator McCarthy moved the second reading of three appropriation bills totalling $12.7 billion in additional 2025–26 appropriations — a role that reflects Senate management responsibilities extending well beyond her portfolio [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s026]. Appropriation Bill (No. 3) alone seeks $9.2 billion, with the single largest allocation — over $2.9 billion — directed to the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, alongside $876 million for the National Disability Insurance Agency, over $1 billion for Defence, and $881 million to Home Affairs covering the government's antisemitism response [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s026].

Appropriation Bill (No. 4) accounts for $3.5 billion, including over $2 billion for Defence Strategy capabilities, $411 million for Murray-Darling Basin water purchases, and $325 million in Housing Australia Future Fund loans [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s026].

In question time, Senator McCarthy addressed a markedly different policy domain — maritime and economic security — committing to a long-term strategic fleet goal of 12 Australian-flagged and crewed vessels and a five-year pilot program operating three ships commercially with emergency availability to government [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s168]. She linked the initiative to supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19, fuel disruptions, natural disasters, and overseas conflicts.

The government is supporting the fleet agenda through coastal trading and shipping law reform, and is investing $10 million from a $30 million Australia-Singapore Low Emissions Technologies program, supplemented by the Hydrogen Headstart program and a $6.7 billion hydrogen production tax incentive over ten years [TA-260325-senate-9aaa61ce6ff6:s169].

The unifying thread across the Indigenous-portfolio stream is the community-controlled model: both the peak body launch and the bill consideration segment foreground community-controlled organisations as the delivery mechanism and the accountability locus. The question time and appropriations contributions illustrate the breadth of Senate management Senator McCarthy carried on the same day.