Government funded Welcome to Country could be cut under coalition government: Price
NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she’ll review federal funding for Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies – currently costing Australians more than $200k a year – if elected.
Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has suggested Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies could be axed from government events if the coalition wins power.
Ms Price was last week made shadow minister for government efficiency, a new portfolio Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says will help cut “wasteful” government spending.
Ms Price said that would include a review of spending she claimed did little to deliver practical outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
“The coalition’s plan to review federal government spending on Welcomes to Country is no different from our plan to review government spending across the board – focused on ensuring that our priorities are aligned with Australians and efficient outcomes are being achieved,” Ms Price said.
“The Albanese Labor government has taken a reckless approach to government spending, and have created a lot of waste in doing so.
“If the Coalition is successful at the next election, we will stop the waste and ensure our spending aligns with the priorities of everyday Australians.
“The $450m Voice referendum – a shining example of Labor’s wasteful spending, showed us that everyday Australians aren’t interested in symbolism, they want practical outcomes.”
Documents recently obtained by the opposition under Freedom of Information revealed more than $450,000 had been spent on 300 Welcome to Country ceremonies at Commonwealth department events in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years.
Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said it was “disappointing” to see the coalition “focused on culture wars”.
“We know that the Opposition Leader walked out on the Apology (to stolen generations),” she told ABC Darwin.
“He won’t stand in front of the Indigenous flag, and now he doesn’t want elders doing Welcome to Country.”
Ms McCarthy said a lot of domestic and international tourism was drawn to Central Australia by Indigenous culture.
“So, which is it? Who’s the waste? Is it Aboriginal people? I think we have to really ask the question, where is the Indigenous plan for the future with the coalition and with Senator Price.”
Reconciliation Australia describes Welcome to Country as a way to show respect of cultural protocols, and help make up for Indigenous peoples’ long history of exclusion from Australian democracy.
“This history of dispossession and colonisation lies at the heart of the disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians today,” its guidelines read.
“Including recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in events, meetings and national symbols contributes to ending the exclusion that has been so damaging.”
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Originally published as Government funded Welcome to Country could be cut under coalition government: Price
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