ABA Is Not Federal Minister Slush Fund

Member for Lingiari and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs Warren Snowdon today called on Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough and his Department to stop using the Aboriginals Benefit Account (ABA) to finance schemes of his own that should properly be funded from within the Government's own resources.

Mr Snowdon said that if the Minister truly believed in process and accountability, he should let the ABA Advisory Committee determine its own priorities for the use of ABA funds, rather than being humbugged by the Minister to fund "his” projects.

'There is increasing concern at the Minister's tendency to treat the ABA as a cash cow for his personal slush fund,' he said.

'He's already used the ABA to bankroll, among other things, the housing initiative in Alice Springs and I understand he's now pushing for it to fund placements for Aboriginal people in the tourism and hospitality industry.

'But I also understand the jobs will be in hotels and tourism operations on the Gold Coast, so they won't be putting young Aboriginal Territorians into Territory tourism – where they're most needed.

'Funding what is essentially a labour market program should not be the ABA's job; it is the direct responsibility of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

'That aside, ABA funds, which is revenue derived from royalty equivalents arising from mining and other development on Aboriginal land in the Territory, are supposed to be paid to or used for the benefit of Aboriginal people in the Territory.

'But this tourism scheme could well see the funds being spent on Aboriginal people from other States and it will clearly directly benefit non-Indigenous businesses in other States.

'This isn't just policy-making on the run, it's a ram raid on money earned from economic activity on Aboriginal land.

'The ABA has an Advisory Committee and it should be allowed to meet and do its job without the Minister pilfering the funds on a whim to disguise his own inability to source funds from existing Government programmes.

'Stop the cost shifting and leave the ABA alone to get on with the job of funding the priorities identified by the Aboriginal people of the NT,' Mr Snowdon said.

2006-09-01