Justice advocates have criticised the Federal Government for the lack of funding to Indigenous legal services in the 2021-22 Budget despite the increasing rate of Indigenous people being incarcerated.

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (NATSILS) has voiced their concern for the Government's decision to contribute no further funding for legal assistance services, saying the choice further entrenches Indigenous people in the justice system, disrupts efforts towards the Closing the Gap incarceration target, and minimises the national crisis of deaths in custody.

Over 474 First Nations peoples have died in custody since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991.

Without improved funding, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services (ATSILS) will struggle to participate wholly in coronial inquests, which will further impact communities and families who have lost loved ones.

"Given the alarming rates of over-incarceration and Aboriginal deaths in custody, it is more important than ever for ATSILS to be properly resourced and accessible across Australia," said NATSILS Chair Priscilla Atkins.

"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services are already suffering from a demand we cannot meet due to substantial delays and understaffing."

"More funding and job creation for ATSILS means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can access culturally safe legal support when and where they need it, which supports our communities and reduces the over-incarceration of our people."

Change the Record Co-Chair Cheryl Axleby said it was "shameful" there was "no plan from the Commonwealth Government to address the crisis of Black deaths in custody".

"There is no funding in the Budget to address the mass incarceration of First Nations peoples by establishing a National Justice Reinvestment Body (despite this being a key recommendation) and no funding to support States and Territories to Raise the Age to keep primary school aged children out of police and prison cells," Axleby said.

"This is not a budget for the future, this is a Budget that entrenches the inequalities and injustice of the past."

NATSILS noted that whilst they support the creation of the National Justice Policy Partnership, there was no funding announced to enable or support the success of the partnership.

By Rachael Knowles