IF a senior public servant is called to appear in at a Senate committee meeting, we can be sure Senator Malcolm Roberts will be the one asking the most relevant questions.
That was the case when Senator Roberts recently questioned government officials and Indigenous Affairs representatives during a committee hearing over the effectiveness and accountability of government funding for Indigenous Australians.
According to the Productivity Commission historical estimates such as its own landmark Indigenous Expenditure Report, total direct and indirect expenditure across Commonwealth, state, and territory governments to be upwards of $33.4 billion, with subsequent estimates adjusted for inflation placing this total closer to $40 billion.
Senator Roberts raises concerns that money intended to support communities is being absorbed by bureaucrats, consultants and other intermediaries rather than reaching people in need.
When Roberts questioned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss about whether current funding models were meeting community needs, Senator Jana Stewart (Labor, Victoria), who identifies as Indigenous, interrupted, asking Roberts if he was asking the commissioner for an opinion.
“I can speak to the fact that we know that there is a fair amount of financial allocation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services and supports … I’m not sure what you’re referring to in terms of welfare support, but I do have concerns about the fact that funding that’s being allocated to our communities and our organisations is not actually meeting the needs of our communities, and to government agencies, that’s not actually meeting the needs of our communities and that’s evident in the closing the gap targets,” the Commissioner said.
When Roberts asked the Commissioner if she was aware that half or more of the funding was going into salaries, Ms Kiss said that issue had been confirmed in expenditure and Productivity Commission reports, which prompted the touchy senator from Victoria to interrupt again, telling Roberts “I’m struggling to see the connection between your questions and the role of Commissioner Kiss”, to which Roberts responded “I think we’ll see it fairly soon”.
Roberts then asked the Commissioner if she was aware that most of the assaults on Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory and Western Australia were committed by Aboriginal men, which again prompted a reaction from the sensitive Senator Stewart: “Ah, er, no they’re not,” she said, in a condescending tone.
The Commissioner had a chuckle, and said “I’m not sure that those statistics are necessarily accurate, Senator,” which prompted another jibe from Senator Stewart: “Check your facts, Malcolm.”
Senator Roberts’ final question to the commissioner was why the lack of comment about the fact that the large proportion of incarcerated Aboriginal people who were in jail were there because they committed crimes warranting a jail sentence from a magistrate or judge.
The sensitive Victorian senator, with a pained expression on her face, interrupted yet again about asking the Commissioner for an opinion. Ms Kiss said she did “not make decisions about who went to jail and how they were sentenced” and could not comment on that.
Roberts then directed his question to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Katy Gallagher: “Minister, when will this government learn the throwing money around is not the solution. These people are living in misery, in poverty, and throwing more money at them, and throwing it to the activists and the parasites in between is not being effective.
“It’s quite clear. Social justice includes people accepting responsibility for their own actions and genuine help on the ground. What is your government going to do about closing the gap, because it’s widening now?”
The minister’s representative, not named in the text, was a rather sad sight as she attempted to bat away the question, saying “I reject the language in your question … ah yesterday the National Indigenous Finance and Public Administration Committee (another government committee) appeared and gave a lot of evidence about all the work we are doing to improve outcomes and close the gap.”
And so it goes on … another day, another committee.
