Oxfam distances itself from activist employee Dtarneen Onus-Williams

A major charity employing an Aboriginal activist rejects her incendiary comments on Australia Day.

Activist Dtarneen Onus-Williams. Picture: David Geraghty.

A major charity that employs Aboriginal activist Dtarneen Onus-Williams distanced itself from their paid employee yesterday following her incendiary comments on Australia Day.

Ms Onus-Williams has already faced calls from the Victorian opposition to resign from a government-funded indigenous youth council for saying Australia should “burn to the f..king ground” at an Invasion Day rally in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday.

Ms Onus-Williams works as a senior officer for Oxfam Australia’s Straight Talk program — which focuses on Aboriginal youth — but the charity said she was not representing their views at the rally. “Oxfam Australia disagrees with these statements and they do not represent Oxfam’s position,” a spokesman said.

Oxfam Australia and its chief executive, Helen Szoke, a former federal race discrimination commissioner, came out in support of changing the date of Australia Day this month because of the holiday’s divisiveness in indigenous communities.

Oxfam Australia Chief, Helen Szoke. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

The charity would not confirm whether Ms Onus-Williams had been disciplined or sacked.

The Victorian Liberal Party has also criticised the Victorian Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission for not calling attention to Ms Onus-Williams’s comments and a profanity-laden statement released on Monday by her group, the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, which called for Australia to be abolished.

The VEOHRC posts about far-right groups in Victoria on social media and called for media to refer to them as “Nazis” earlier this month on Twitter.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman John Pesutto said the VEOHRC had to take “hateful” rhetoric from far-left groups just as seriously. The VEOHRC did not respond to a request for comment in time for deadline.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett and indigenous leader and former ALP president Warren Mundine are among those who have been vocal in their criticism of Ms Onus-Williams, particularly given her work with Victoria’s Koorie Youth Council.

“(The council) is something that’s meant to advance the understanding and appreciation of all things indigenous and in saying what she has, she’s shown that she’s totally incompatible with that,” Mr Kennett said.

“I think it’s a case of ‘thank you, but goodbye’.”

Mr Mundine said the episode showed why there should be tighter control over funding to such groups.

“The serious question here is why is the government funding these groups and these organisations when the people involved are haters who have no scruples about taking taxpayers’ money and then spitting in their faces,” he said.

“There’s no real rigour in appointments and no questions about where this money is going. And then you see money going into causes and demonstrations where people are racially abusing and threatening people — it has to change.”

With Samantha Hutchinson