First Nations Ambassador Justin Mohamed makes third business class trip to Geneva

Taxpayers have shelled out another $10,000 on more business-class flights for First Nations Ambassador Justin Mohamed. See where else he’s been and how much it costs.

Exclusive: Australia’s First Nations globetrotter Justin Mohamed has racked up another $75,000 on overseas travel, including his third trip to Geneva in less than two years.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade outlaid an average of $12,800 a month on Mr Mohamed’s international flights, hotels and food costs in the opening half of this financial year.

Mr Mohamed – the world’s only First Nations People Ambassador – went abroad five times between July and December 2024, beginning with his third trip to Geneva and ending with his sixth visit to the US since being appointed by Labor in 2023.

The additional spending in the half brings the total overseas travel spend on Mr Mohamed to nearly $250,000.

The average outlay per month last financial year was $12,100.

Mr Mohamed (left) on one of his earlier trips to Geneva. Picture: X

The Opposition has vowed to scrap the role if it wins the next federal election.

Coalition MP James Stevens, whose office made the FOI application, said: “These latest revelations underscore the money being wasted on a pointless position that could be used to address genuine disadvantage in Indigenous communities.

“Anthony Albanese has a chance to put an end to this overseas odyssey by scrapping the role when Mr Mohamed’s contract comes to an end in a few weeks’ time,” Mr Stevens said.

Mr Mohamed’s two-year contract – worth $759,000 – expires in April.

In March 2023, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and then Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney announced the appointment of Mr Mohamed to the new role, which does not exist anywhere else in the world.

Mr Mohamed’s job description initially said he would “engage regional partners on the Voice, Treaty, Truth process,” but that function has been removed since the Voice referendum was voted down.

The government has since suggested the role helps counter China’s growing influence in the Pacific by “building alignment with the countries of our highly contested region.”

Mr Mohamed is also responsible for providing “strategic guidance on the development and implementation of a First Nations approach to foreign policy.”

To help him do that, last year the government awarded a $266,000 contract to an inner Sydney-based consultancy to “support culturally appropriate consultations with First Nations stakeholders”.

Mr Mohamed’s most recent trip to Geneva was to attend a meeting of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On his latest US trip he participated in World Indigenous and Native American business forums, plus oversaw the return of ancestral remains to Australia.

Mr Mohamed, second from left, in Hawaii. Picture: LinkedIn

Beyond the amounts spent on sending Mr Mohamed overseas, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been approved to dispatch DFAT support staff who have travelled with him.

Last financial year alone, the total amount approved for trips led by Mr Mohamed was more than $350,000.

DFAT did not respond to questions about whether Mr Mohamed’s contract would be extended.

Instead, it noted comments Ms Wong made in parliament earlier this week in which she said Mr Mohamed’s work had reinforced Australia’s influence in the Pacific and opened up new export channels.

Mr Mohamed declined to comment.

Originally published as First Nations Ambassador Justin Mohamed makes third business class trip to Geneva