Australia’s first First Nations ambassador will receive up to $326,000 a year, plus a whopping $358,000 budget for international travel.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and former Indigenous Australia Minister Linda Burney have appointed Justin Mohamed, a Gooreng Gooreng man from Bundaberg in Queensland, to the world’s first ambassadorship in March 2023.
The Albanian government said the unelected role would “ensure, for the first time, that Australia will have dedicated indigenous representation in our international engagement.”
Since the staggering travel budget was made public on Monday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said he would abolish the fee, calling it a “waste of money”.
Mr. Mohamed oversees the Office for First Nations International Engagement, which was established within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in December with a budget of $13.6 million over four years.
On 3 June, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price asked DFAT officials at a Senate estimates hearing what Mohamed’s annual salary was for his role.
Officials confirmed he was “employed at SES band level 2,” referring to a Senior Executive Service level earning between $240,000 and $326,000 a year, according to DFAT’s annual report for 2022-23, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Ms Nampijinpa Price asked for the exact amount, but the question was taken down and appears to have gone unanswered after officials were unable to immediately give the exact salary package.
Justin Mohamed is on a salary of between $240,000 and $326,000 a year, according to DFAT officials speaking at a Senate estimates hearing (he is pictured with Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, both right, at a forum in Fiji in August).
Justin Mohamed is pictured, right, at the 13th Pacific Arts and Culture Festival in Honolulu with Kevin Rudd, center, the former Australian prime minister and current ambassador to the United States.
Mr Dutton told 2GB he would abolish the role if elected at the next election.
“That money will be spent to help Australians who are struggling right now to keep a roof over their heads or pay their electricity bill,” he said.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, currently in New York, responded that Dutton was diminishing Australia on the world stage.
“It is disappointing that Mr Dutton does not see a role for Indigenous Australians in representing Australia,” he said.
“We see his character on full display again. It divides us at home and, frankly, makes us smaller in the world.”
Mr Mohamed spent around $145,000 on business-class flights and splurged hundreds of dollars at a time on private transfers to and from his sprawling estate, with taxpayers footing the bill.
Her job was originally to ‘engage regional partners in the Voice, Treaty, Truth process’, but that part of the role became irrelevant when Australia voted No to the Voice referendum in October.
Instead, the Albanian government gave Mohamed a travel budget of $358,000 to fly business class around the world with one or two colleagues to represent First Nations views at bilateral forums and conferences.
Justin Mohamed, Australia’s First Nations Ambassador, is pictured with his wife Janine
Nearly 180 pages of expense documents, released by Senator Wong’s office under the Freedom of Information Act and obtained by Daily Mail Australia, reveal Mohamed made nine overseas trips in the 2023-24 financial year.
He traveled to New York, Hawaii, San Francisco, Geneva, Dubai, Paris and major cities in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, all of which cost him a total of $283,000. A two-week trip to Kansas City and Washington DC cost $75,022.
The few domestic trips he made were generally round-trip business-class flights from his sprawling five-bedroom mansion in Gisborne, outside Melbourne, to Canberra. The documents did not detail any excursions to remote indigenous communities.
Australian Indigenous opposition spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told the Daily Mail Australia there was a stark contrast between Mohamed’s travel budget and the experiences of ordinary Indigenous people.
Mr Mohamed paid Australian taxpayers for three limousine rides (two receipts pictured)
“There is a huge gap between the money First Nations ambassadors spend on travel and the lives of our most marginalised Australians,” she said.
‘If these taxpayer-funded trips are really justified, then Anthony Albanese must be clear about the results that are being achieved and how the lives of our marginalised people are being improved.
‘As a result of questioning the Government during the estimates earlier this year, I remain uncertain about the practical benefit the Ambassador has brought to the lives of Aboriginal Australians.
He said the Coalition would abolish Mohamed’s position if he were elected to government in 2025.
“We must prioritise investing in improving the lives of Indigenous Australians here in our country before spending these significant amounts of money on a position that Indigenous Australians do not even have the ability to make representations about.”
According to the documents, Mr. Mohamed usually traveled with at least one colleague whose expenses were covered by the general budget.
The documentation included the reasons behind each trip, which ranged from “representing First Nations perspectives on climate change” to “joining ministerial dialogues on Indigenous trade.”
All expenses were approved by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) staff, including $30,000 for hotels in the nine international destinations, $13,000 for food and taxi fares, and $102,000 for business class flights.
Mr Mohamed would send ground transportation receipts after each trip, which included multiple $200 round-trip invoices for a private transfer from his home in Gisborne to Melbourne Airport.
Justin Mohamed lives on a sprawling estate in Gisborne, Victoria, valued at $2.4 million
DFAT reimbursed Mr Mohamed around $150 for three separate charges to private limousine companies in Dubai.
The documents contain no information beyond June 30. Mohamed has since traveled to the Solomon Islands and Fiji.
Warren Mundine, former national president of the Australian Labor Party, told Daily Mail Australia the role of Mohamed’s position was unclear and called for more “hands-on” roles to help local indigenous businesses.
“I’m a little confused about what the position is, what does it do?” he said.
‘I was originally supposed to speak on the Voice, but that would have sent a clear message that the Australian people do not need that position.’
“We need practical things to happen in Australia and address business development that can help indigenous businesses get support to go international, not someone travelling around attending meetings.”
The five-bedroom property features a Swarovski crystal chandelier (pictured)
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Mohamed for comment but he referred all questions to DFAT.
A spokesman for Senator Wong said the ambassador and his team were “delivering results for all Australians, including our First Nations communities” but did not elaborate further, despite being asked to do so.
“Ambassador Mohamed has helped secure greater access for Indigenous peoples to the Human Rights Council, was instrumental in delivering a groundbreaking treaty that secured formal legal recognition of First Nations peoples’ genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and has boosted First Nations trade,” they said.
‘First Nations diplomacy is a powerful element of our engagement in the Pacific, given the strong cultural and historical connections of First Nations to our region.
“It’s one of the ways we are rebuilding our relationship with the Pacific family after Mr Dutton and the Liberals disrespected Pacific leaders and neglected Pacific priorities for nine long years, leaving a vacuum that other countries should fill.”
Prior to becoming an ambassador, Mr Mohamed served as Assistant Minister for Aboriginal Justice in the Victorian Government’s Department of Justice and Community Safety from 2021 to 2023.
He also served as Victoria’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People from 2018 to 2021. Prior to that, he was CEO of Equity Health Solutions until 2018 and CEO of Reconciliation Australia from 2014 to 2017.
In 2021, he and his wife Janine purchased their two-acre property near Mount Macedon, northwest of Melbourne, for $2.4 million.
