Indigenous anger over rise of ‘fake Aborigines’

Traditional owners are calling for greater scrutiny of claims of Aboriginality, warning that ‘fake Aborigines’ are rorting benefits.

Veteran activist and author Stephen Hagan.

Traditional owners are calling for greater scrutiny of claims of ­Aboriginality, warning that “fake Aborigines” are rorting benefits and criminals may be claiming to be indigenous to avoid deportation.

Veteran activist and author Stephen Hagan, and Ann Weldon­, the former director of the Sydney Metropolitan Land Council, said there was widespread concern among Australia’s indigenous community about false claims to Aboriginality.

Dr Hagan said the debate about the Aboriginality of histor­ian Bruce Pascoe and last month’s High Court ruling against the deportation­ of indigenous people born overseas showed the need for a more ­robust examination of claims. In the wake of the High Court ruling, the Home Affairs Department is examining the claims of 23 immigration detainees who say they should be ­released on the grounds that they are indigenous Australians.

A traditional owner and former­ chairman of the Kullilli tribe of southwest Queensland, Dr Hagan said he feared the decision would be exploited by criminals seeking to avoid deportation.

Dr Hagan said the widely ­accepted method test of “descent, self-identification and acceptance” by the Aboriginal community had already been abused to support fraudulent claims.

He said the only real test was for a person to name and prove their links to a tribe and an “apical ancestor” — a tribe’s common ancesto­r who can be demonstrated to be at the apex of the Aborig­inal lineage of a group.

“The existing three-part test is as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike if it does not specify links to an apical ancestor,’’ he said.

“Anyone can do an internet search on a tribe and spin a good yarn to get around the definition, provided they can convince a gullible Aboriginal leader to say, ‘Yeah, I know him/her’, and then sign off on a confirmation of Aboriginali­ty certificate. Naming a tribe as proof of ­Aboriginality is no more than a geography lesson.

“An easy test to eliminate ­deceitful claims to Aboriginality, including those coming from ­detention centres of late, is to apply the apical ancestor test by going back a minimum of three generations. Ask claimants to do that and you’ll soon put a stop to fraudulent claims.”

Ms Weldon said she had seen widespread fraud by people claiming to be ­indigenous so they could access Aboriginal-identi­fied government jobs, university scholarships or public housing.

An elder of the Wiradjuri people­ from central-west NSW, she said “self-identification” by a statutory declaration — despite no evidence of Aboriginal lineage — was often ­accepted as proof.

“People are self-identifying with no proof, no links to Aborig­inal community or culture, by ticking the box and getting statutory declarations signed by a JP,’’ she said. “There are individuals and organisations that are handing them out like lolly paper.”

Ms Weldon said the Sydney Metropolitan Land Council was stringent on claims to Aboriginality but its concerns had been ­ignored by peak indigenous organ­isations. “At the land council­ we would send people away to get proof of their lineage, and most of them didn’t come back,’’ she said. “There are extensive records in NSW from the missions and it can be done.”