Indigenous leader Geoff Clark in custody for stealing $1m from Aboriginal organisations

Former ATSIC chair Geoff Clark, once one of Australia’s most powerful Indigenous leaders, stole from the Aboriginal organisations he once led.

Geoff Clark outside the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Tamati Smith.

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Geoff Clark, once one of Australia’s most senior Indigenous leaders, is behind bars after being found guilty of stealing almost $1m from the Aboriginal organisations he once led.

The 72-year-old was appearing in the Melbourne County Court for day two of his pre-sentencing plea hearing when Judge Michael O’Connell revoked his bail on Thursday.

Clark’s barrister, Simon Kenny, applied for an extension of Clark’s bail ahead of his sentencing but Judge O’Connell rejected the application.

Clark sat in the dock next to his son Jeremy Clark, 51, who had his plea hearing concurrently following convictions against him of frauds to the value of more than $231,000.

Jeremy Clark gave his father a pat on the back as he was led away from the dock by court security staff.

Geoff Clark was once one of Australia’s most senior indigenous leaders. Picture: NewsWire/Tamati Smith.

The former chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission was found guilty of 25 charges, including 17 counts of theft, four counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, two counts of perjury, giving false testimony, and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime, by three juries in three secret trials that ran between December 2023 and May this year.

The convictions were kept secret until last week when a suppression order was lifted.

Juries found Clark stole more than $922,000 from Kirrae Whurrong Community Inc, Maar Land Council and Framlingham Aboriginal Trust over the course of 15 years.

More than $400,000 was used to cover some of Clark’s legal fees in the early 2000s, when he was facing historical rape allegations, unfair dismissal proceedings and an obstructing police charge relating to an incident at the Criterion Hotel in Warrnambool in 2002, for which he was found guilty.

Geoff Clark was once one of Australia’s most senior indigenous leaders.

In the pre-sentencing hearing on Thursday, Mr Kenny asked Judge O’Connell to take into account the fact that Clark had not offended since 2018 and that the police investigation into the allegations against him had been delayed.

Mr Kenny argued that any period of incarceration for Clark was “likely to represent a significant part of whatever time of life he has left, because of his ill health”.

Mr Kenny told the court Clark was an “intelligent man” and “well regarded by many people who know him,” and pointed to numerous character references that he said attested to that.

“It’s not as simple as simply saying Geoff Clark took advantage of his community,” Mr Kenny said.

Crown prosecutor Justin Lewis SC told the court Clark appeared to have been living “in some senses, a double life”.

“There was this essentially parallel life being lived where good works were, at the same time, being accompanied, on the other hand, by offending,” Mr Lewis said.

Mr Lewis warned the court there was a “real possibility” Clark would try to regain a role in administering the bodies he stole from.

“He has already sought to take part in the administration of Framlingham Aboriginal Trust,” he said.

Judge O’Connell will hand down sentences for Geoff and Jeremy Clark at a later date.