Australian taxpayers have shelled out more than $450,000 in the past two years for government departments to host welcome-to-country ceremonies.
The National Australian Indigenous Agency paid $60,342, the Australian Institute of Sport racked up $47,000 and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet spent $41,801 on 33 ceremonies.
Freedom of information requests provided to the opposition also show the Department of Infrastructure spent $35,618 on Homecomings, while the Department of Industry, Science and Resources allocated $30,896 to the ceremonies.
The opposition government’s waste reduction spokesman, James Stevens He said the amount spent was staggering.
“If you add up the enormous amounts that state and local governments spend on these ceremonies, it has become a multibillion-dollar industry,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘The welcome to the country must be genuine and authentic.
‘Spending millions on ‘welcome’ ceremonies does nothing to address the challenges faced by indigenous Australians.
“This money could be better spent providing real solutions to Indigenous communities.”
Australian taxpayers have shelled out more than $450,000 in the past two years for government departments to host welcome-to-country ceremonies (file image)
A Prime Minister and a Cabinet spokeswoman defended the amount of money spent on the ceremonies.
He said the spending was “in line with our Reconciliation Action Plan” with plans introduced under a coalition government in 2015.
“This has been a practice that has been going on for many years,” he said.
“All procurement is carried out in accordance with the Commonwealth Procurement Standards to achieve value for money.”
A spokesman for the Department of Finance, which paid $6,740 for just eight events, also said the money spent “demonstrates our commitment to reconciliation.”
“Inviting a traditional custodian to welcome the country at major corporate events strengthens our connection with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” he said.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said last month that welcoming ceremonies have become a commercial product rather than a cultural expression.
The shadow Indigenous Australians minister told Sky News in December that there is an “Aboriginal industry” in Australia.
A prime minister and a cabinet spokeswoman defended the amount of money spent on the ceremonies (file image)
“The whole welcoming-to-the-country ceremony has only expanded that industry,” he said.
“There are people all over the country whose only function, their only source of income, is to basically welcome the country.”
Late last year, the Juru people of Burdekin in northern Queensland voted to ban welcome-to-country ceremonies on their ancestral land.
Juru spokesman Randall Ross told Melbourne radio station 4BC that “elders have had enough” of the commercialization of the traditional ceremony.
Ross told host Bill McDonald that some of those performing Welcome to the Country weren’t even connected in any meaningful way to the Burdekin area.
“Our welcome to countries is not only being abused but also misused for wrong purposes,” he said.
‘We still have people who are not connected to the country performing the ceremonies because they have been identified as preferred suppliers by governments and other agencies.
“It’s an insult to many of our traditional owners.”