Australia Day and meaningful acknowledgement of First Peoples continue to be debated across the nation, with signs of traction. Unfortunately, the current federal government’s responses have been woeful. As has the continuing poor performance of their Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS).
Image: A screenshot of the page posted by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet that was removed late this afternoon after questioning from IndigenousX. A media advisor for Senator Nigel Scullion now says the posting was an “administrative error”.
Australia Day and meaningful acknowledgement of First Peoples continue to be debated across the nation, with signs of traction. Unfortunately, the current federal government’s responses have been woeful. As has the continuing poor performance of their Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS).
Keeping with this tradition of ineptness, next year’s celebration of nation building on stolen lands (aka Australia Day) appears to be funded by the government’s Indigenous Affairs portfolio.
Needs-based funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Peoples) programs and services are a much-debated issue. On one hand, there are those who think too much government funding goes to First Peoples’ communities and organisations. On the other hand, there is evidence that not enough funding is going to the organisations best placed to deliver much needed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs and services.
And then there is ongoing suspicion of federal funding within the Indigenous portfolio not only going to organisations ill equipped to deliver core services for First Peoples, but to those not even intending to.
In the current financial year, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet listed on its website an allocation of $3,864,000 from the Indigenous Advancement Strategy funding to the National Australia Day Council (NADC), commencing on 1 July 2017.
The IAS, an initiative under Abbott, was announced in May 2014. It was heavily criticised in that first year, and subsequent financial years, for not applying an evidence-based approach or efficient community engagement strategies. The timing of the announcement and sudden roll-out of a massive overhaul in Indigenous funding left a trail of uncertainty for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander core services and programs.
Australian National Audit Office found glaring issues with the management of the IAS funding, and heavily criticised Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion. Minister Scullion acknowledged that the government needed to improve accountability, and made a commitment to ensuring more funding went to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities/organisations in future IAS funding rounds.
And a few months later – NADC is listed on the Department’s website as receiving $3.8 million of IAS funding. NADC is a Commonwealth owned, not-for-profit company that sits within, and is funded by, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Its primary functions are to promote the meaning of Australia Day, allocate funding for state/territory and national Australia Day celebrations, and manage the Australian of the Year Awards.
It could be argued that NADC’s activities negatively impact on many First Peoples. Australia Day represents a devastating loss of land, infringements on self-determination, and a legacy of inequity and injustice for First Peoples. To even think that this nationalistic day is funded by the program that’s intent is to fix inequity, health disparities and loss of economic means, resulting from ongoing settler-colonisation, is a massive slap in the face.
Calls to change the date of Australia Day, to one that does not remind First Peoples of invasion and loss, are increasing. The conversations, although often countered with ignorance and racism, are happening across the continent. With more and more citizens, local and state/territories governments, and organisations showing strong support for the change. The date will change.
A recent Indigenous X article on the need to change the date stated:
“The unfortunate reality for the Australia Day Council, and for the rest of the nation, is that this isn’t an issue that is ever going to go away. The only way to aspire towards a day where we can ‘come together as a nation’ is to change the date. There is literally no other way.”
However, the responsibility for IAS funding sits with Minister Scullion and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Post-audit, Minister Scullion made a commitment to improve the administration of IAS, to better meet the Department’s objectives. The Minister needs to be held accountable for yet another sign of mismanagement.
And it appears they are readying to answer questions on this latest issue within the Indigenous Affairs portfolio. Early on 31 August 2017, all traces of IAS funding for NDAC were removed from the Department’s website. But not before it was noticed.
Word is that the Department is blaming the listing of this IAS funding to NADC on an administration error. This is probably the case. However, this error adds to the ongoing management issues that have put IAS under a cloud since its inception in 2014. Australians, especially First Peoples, deserve an explanation. And, First Peoples deserve a better approach to Indigenous Affairs than what this government is delivering.
Karen Wyld is a First Peoples (Martu descent) freelance writer and consultant.
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