THE federal government may pull hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding it provides each year to Balunu Foundation in the wake of anti-vaccination campaigning from its founder and chairman David Cole.
Balunu Foundation, which received more than half a million dollars in government funding for the 2019/20 financial year, provides a range of services, camps, and programs for hundreds of Territory youth-at-risk each year.
Financial records show government funding, including grants, has made up anywhere between 80-95 per cent of the organisation’s income in recent years, meaning the curtailment of federal funding could leave Balunu in dire straits.
Cole, who is Indigenous, has come under fire in recent months for vocally campaigning against Covid-19 vaccines in several locations across the Territory.
At a rally in Darwin last month, he declared to a crowd that six people from Groote Eylandt had died from the vaccine in the space of a week. NT Health has flatly rejected the claim.
Cole has declined to comment.
The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), the federal agency responsible for funding programs addressing the needs of First Nations people, confirmed Balunu’s funding was under review.
“NIAA is in discussions with Mr Cole and the other Balunu directors about the program, noting the concerns expressed, including by community members,” an NIAA spokesman said.
“Balunu’s funded program with the NIAA is due to end on 30 June 2022.
The spokesman said the NIAA’s funding, which totalled more than $450,000 for the 2019/20 financial year, went towards drug and alcohol treatment services, wellbeing services, and advocacy services for young people at risk of suicide and self-harm.
Since its establishment by Cole and his wife Mim in 2006, the foundation has had a tumultuous history as successive governments flip-flopped over funding diversion programs like those offered at Balunu.
An NT government spokesman said it recently completely defunded Balunu, but would not say why funding was discontinued.
The spokesman said Territory Families provided $150,000 in funding to Balunu as part of a contract to provide youth camp services between June 2020 and May 2021.
“This funding arrangement ended with the expiry of the contract,” the spokesman said.
The NT News understands the Territory government has provided more than $230,000 in funding to Balunu since 2018.
In the 2018/19 financial year, the NT government gave $33,650 for youth and healing camps and a further capital grant of $50,000 to fix critical power and water services at the foundation’s Talc Head facility.
Cole caught the ire of Chief Minister Michael Gunner in October, who condemned Cole’s Groote Eylandt comments, saying “To spread fear about a lifesaving vaccine is so contemptuous I don’t have adjectives media would print”.
Weeks later, Cole posted a video of himself from inside the Howard Springs quarantine facility, announcing he was going on a 14-day hunger strike after being arrested and taken into custody as a “political prisoner”.
Cole added he had “triggered the head of the state” and he would forgo eating because he “did not trust” the people operating the facility.
Police issued Cole with an infringement for contravention of emergency declaration – providing false information on a border entry form and was required to undergo 14 days’ quarantine, however Cole was spotted at a Darwin ‘freedom’ rally eight days after he entered the facility.
Over the years, Cole has been an outspoken critic of the government, and notably, in 2016 he announced he would serve the Department of Children and Families with a cease and desist notice, saying the government was failing in its duty of care towards abused and neglected children in the system.
The federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt weighed in on Cole’s anti-vaccination sentiments, highlighting concerns over Covid-19 misinformation seeping into Aboriginal communities.
“I reject the misinformation being spread by Mr. Cole,” he said.
“Everyone should take advice from health officials, and if they hold concerns should consult with local health professionals.
“Misinformation regarding Covid-19 and vaccines threatens the health and safety of people and our communities.”
According to the Australian charity regulatory authority website, Balunu has one other director at present, Nadine Lee. She could not be reached for comment.
Two previous directors have stepped down since June 2020.
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