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A Freedom of Information Request submitted by the Coalition exposed the almost $450,000 spent by 21 federal government departments across two years.
The spending was heavily criticised by the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Government Efficiency Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
“Spending over half a million dollars on Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremonies by government departments is not an appropriate use of taxpayer funds when they deliver no discernible benefit to marginalised Indigenous Australians,” she told SBS Examines.
The Shadow Minister said the Coalition have been “consistently clear” about their election promise to cut waste by “eliminating government spending that does not produce outcomes” and are “committed towards practical measures that improve the lives of Indigenous Australians”.
“In a context where government spending is contributing to the high inflation and cost of living crisis, Australians deserve their money to be used responsibly and efficiently by government,” she said.
She accused the government of being “distracted” by “ideology and tokenism”.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy pushed back on the Senator’s claims.
“While the Albanese Government is focused on Closing the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and driving economic empowerment for First Nations people, the opposition is focused on culture wars about Welcome to Country,” she said.
“If Peter Dutton and the Coalition think culture wars are going to pay down Liberal debt, they are out of their depth.”
Academic and author, Professor Marcia Langton believes the discussion around Welcome to Country to be spurring “ugly culture wars”.
“I don’t understand why this was reported as a scandal of some sort. . . . .There’s more than a hint of racism in this. It’s okay for Australians to go to ANZAC Day ceremonies but it’s not okay to go to Welcome to Country ceremonies,” she said.
“Frankly, I find this flurry of scandal making in the media about an FOI . . . to be a beat up in the veil of the ugly culture wars.”
While Indigenous Affairs commentator Dr Anthony Dillon said Welcome to Country are being used as a “political football”.
“Some politicians out there grab onto something and make it a hot issue, a political football in that sense . . . the Welcome to Country is an easy thing for people who are fed up with Indigenous politics and affairs,” he said.
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