Budget 2025: $178 Million For ‘Social Cohesion’ Including Palestine, Refugee Funding

Measures include support for Palestine, refugees, the Australian-African community, and the Adass Israel Synagogue which was firebombed in late 2024.

A man waves a Palestinian flag in front of police officers during protests and blockades aimed at disrupting the Land Forces International Defence Expo on Spencer Street in Melbourne, Australia on Sept. 11, 2024. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Australian federal budget includes more than $178 million ($112 million) in taxpayer funds to “support social cohesion in Australia.”

Labor’s social cohesion funding includes projects for organisations supporting refugees from Palestine and Israel.

“The Government will provide $178.4 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $1.2 million per year ongoing) to support social cohesion in Australia,” budget papers (pdf) state.

“Funding includes $4.0 million in 2024–25 for the Project Rozana Foundation to address critical gaps in rehabilitation services and foster capacity‑building in the health sector in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

$7.7 Million for Refugee Employment

Included in the social cohesion funding is $7.7 million to increase refugee employment as part of the “Economic Pathways to Refugee Integration” program.

A further $20 million is provided across a four-year timeline from 2025-26 for projects that support African-Australian community needs.

The federal government has also delivered $44.8 million over five years for a multicultural communities grant program.

Included within this $44.8 million, is $15 million for the Aspire Performance Centre and $10 million for independent multicultural media outlets to “fast track their transition to sustainable news media.”

Double Social Cohesion Funding

Overall, under the social cohesion budget measure, the attorney general’s department’s funding will nearly double from $11 million to $21.5 million.

Home Affairs will receive a 580 percent boost in funding for social cohesion, from $5.6 million in 2024-25 to $38.1 million in 2025-26.

The budget also lists $31.4 million for the restoration of the Adass Israel Synagogue and community centre in Victoria following the 2024 firebombing.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Member for Macnamara Josh Burns had already announced this measure, although the budget slightly amends the figure by $200,000.

“The firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue was a crime of cowardice and prejudice. It was an attempt to threaten and silence the Jewish community, in Melbourne and right around Australia. We won’t stand for that,” Labor said on March 18.

The Coalition had previously promised to provide up to $35 million for the Adass Israel Synagogue community centre if they won the election.

“The burning and firebombing of the Adass Israel Synagogue was not just an attack on the Jewish community. It was an attack on the Australian way of life,” the Opposition said on March 17.

“The rebuilding of the Adass Israel Synagogue sends a powerful message to the perpetrators of this abhorrent crime that we will not be silenced or intimidated in the face of this hatred.”

Funding for Non-Citizens Sent to Nauru

Meanwhile, budget papers also reveal the Labor government will provide funding for non-citizens released from immigration detention and sent to Nauru.

The federal government said they were not able to reveal how much this cost, listing the budget measure as “not for publication” while the finer details are sorted out with Nauru.

“The Government will provide funding to support resettlement in Nauru of non‑citizens released from immigration detention in Australia who do not have the right to remain in Australia, as part of the continuing response to the High Court decision in NZYQ v. Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs & Anor,” the paper said.

“The cost of this measure will be partially met from within the existing resourcing of the Department of Home Affairs.”

The landmark NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs High Court decision, handed down on Nov. 8, 2023, upheld that indefinite detention was unlawful and led to the release of a large number of individuals with criminal convictions from immigration detention.

Since this decision, the deportation of asylum seekers to Nauru has also been the subject of legal challenges.

These spending measures are just a handful of the total federal budget delivered on March 25, which showed Australia’s deficit will soar from $27.6 billion in 2024-25 to $42.1 billion in 2025-26.

Gross debt will increase from $940 billion in 2024-25 to more than $1 trillion in 2025-26 and net debt will increase from $556 billion to $620.3 billion in the same time.