Dutton, Price want Indigenous spending audited

A row over federal spending is clouding the final phase of the referendum on the Indigenous Voice to parliament, with No campaigners demanding an audit of the money spent on First Australians and a former federal minister backing the call.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton linked the spending to the Voice debate by saying the money should be checked to ensure it was going to the “most deserving” people, hours after leading No campaigner Jacinta Nampijinpa Price called for the audit.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he would have more to say about auditing Indigenous programs after the referendum. Credit: Kate Geraghty

But Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney said she had made changes in June to address an audit that highlighted what she called the “clearly deficient” safeguards in place during nine years of Coalition government.

Former Indigenous affairs minister Amanda Vanstone argued for a complete audit to discover where the spending was doing most good and where it was not working, after days of debate over total federal and state outlays worth about $33.4 billion.

“I don’t think anyone could genuinely say that Indigenous people are getting value for money,” said Vanstone, who was responsible for Indigenous affairs during the Howard government.

“It’s apparent that we’re not being effective. It’s not so much where’s the money going – because that carries a sort of pejorative inference that you think it’s being wasted and that Indigenous people are wasteful.

“And that’s not necessarily my view. I want to know what’s being effective and to get rid of the ineffective stuff and put it into more effective stuff. And I don’t think we have that map. I’m pretty sure we don’t.”

The current and previous governments have acknowledged that progress has been too slow on closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage on health, education, and life expectancy.

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged Australians to vote Yes because the Voice could offer advice that improves outcomes and reduces waste, Dutton has argued for a No vote on the grounds that the Voice would increase waste when money should be spent in local communities.

The Productivity Commission found six years ago that spending on Indigenous Australians was $33.4 billion in 2016 across all services from federal, state and territory governments. The federal portion was $14.7 billion.

Across all governments, only $6 billion was targeted spending exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, while the remainder was the estimated Indigenous share of total spending that went to all Australians on services such as health and education.

Price, who is the Coalition spokeswoman on Indigenous Australians as well as a Country Liberal Party senator for the Northern Territory and a leader of the Fair Australia campaign against the Voice, called for the audit while in Perth on Monday night.

Dutton, speaking alongside Price at a press conference on Tuesday, said he would have more to say about the matter before the next election, but confirmed he supported the need to examine how money is spent on remote communities.

“I absolutely strongly support Jacinta’s call to make sure money has been paid in taxes … are being spent appropriately,” he said. Dutton argued the huge amount of money from Canberra “becomes a trickle” when it reached remote communities, leading to worse outcomes for Indigenous people.

“It would be a travesty to see money taken away by those most deserving of it and diverted into the hands [of others].”

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s call for an audit into Indigenous programs was backed by former Indigenous affairs minister Amanda Vanstone.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Australian National Audit Office has completed several reviews of Indigenous agencies or policies each year over recent decades, with 22 audits completed while the Coalition held power from 2013 to 2022.

A check on fraud and compliance at the National Indigenous Australians Agency raised questions in May this year about grants worth $1 billion to more than 1000 service providers, finding the system for managing fraud was “not fully fit-for-purpose” and did not fully comply with legislation.

“There are weaknesses in the design and implementation of governance and assurance mechanisms,” the audit said. The agency responded in a statement, saying it had accepted and was implementing all of the audit office’s seven recommendations.

“In addition, we have established an integrity group to strengthen our fraud and compliance activities across the agency’s operations and programs and continue working with our partners to protect the communities we serve from potential risks.”

Burney said she had acted In June to ensure integrity in spending.

“The systems put in place by the previous Coalition government were clearly deficient,” she said.

“Strong governance and accountability are vital to ensuring delivery of high-quality services and better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”

Burney said she had instructed the agency to establish an integrity branch to elevate fraud prevention and detection, introduce a program of random compliance checks and ensure staff were taking steps to prevent and detect fraud.

Lowitja Institute chairman Selwyn Button, a Gungarri man who is also partner of both PwC Australia and PwC Indigenous Consulting, said the spending claims had turned into one of the “biggest mistruths” of the campaign about the Indigenous Voice.

“The core of the mistruth is how much control and influence Indigenous people have, and how much money goes directly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” he said. “The analysis shows how much of this money they actually control and influence – and it’s a very small proportion.”

with Hamish Hastie

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