Cape York leader warns of ‘gravy train’ rorting

Rich­ie Ah Mat has warned that government jobs, contracts and benefits for Aborigines are open to rorting.

Richie Ah Mat, right, with Andrew Forrest and former PM Tony Abbott. Picture: Kym Smith

Cape York Aboriginal leader Rich­ie Ah Mat has warned that government jobs, contracts and benefits for Aborigines are open to rorting because some indigenous bodies are not properly checking claims of Aboriginality.

The Cape York Land Council chairman said authorit­ies needed to be more responsive to complaints about possible fraudulent Aboriginal identifica­tion, particularly as governments set targets to use indigenous enterprise­s for taxpayer-funded contracts.

“There is a potential for a massive gravy train in the indig­enous industry at the moment with the procurement legislation,’’ Mr Ah Mat said. “People are thinking, ‘if I am a blackfella, I have the frontrunning’ ... it’s probably happening all over the place.

“And some land councils and native title groups (verifying claims to Aboriginality) just don’t have the resources or manpower to check on who these people say they are.’’

Mr Ah Mat, who also sits on the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, made the comments after Aboriginal leaders called last week for tougher identity checks on claims of Aboriginality.

Warren Mundine, the chairman of the advisory council, and Queensland leader Stephen Hagan said the widespread practice of local land councils signing-off on claims was being rorted.

Last month, the office of the NSW registrar of the Land Rights Act 1983 ordered the removal of former senior public servant Laur­inne Campbell from membershi­p of a land council after ruling her claims to Aborig­inality could not be substantiated.

That follows a decade of complaints from the Aboriginal community about Ms Campbell, and a subsequent investigation ordered by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Ms Campbell had relied on land council vetting in 2006 to secure an “Aboriginal identified’’ position as the Dubbo-based region­al manager of the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office and later set up an indigenous corporation with her immediate family.

On Friday, Mr Mundine said the issue had dominated a meeting late last year of the PM’s advisory council to discuss a new federal procurement policy that at least 3 per cent of all government contracts should be allocated to indigenous business.

A formal submission has since been made by the council to Malcolm Turnbull’s office to abolish the practice of local Aboriginal land councils signing off on claims — often on the basis of a single statutory declaration — with power given to native title groups to use certified genealogists.

A spokesman for federal Indig­enous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the government was aware of the concerns and was carefully vetting businesses seeking work under the policy.

“The minister is keeping a close eye on this issue, particularly given the success of our new procurement policy, which has seen indigenous businesses secure­ contracts worth about $40 million over the past seven months,’’ he said in a statement. “We have engaged Supply Nation to assist with the issue of identity and the certification of businesses’ indigeneity … (and) don’t think there is any need for change.’’