Thursday, 23 August, 2007

by Debra Jopson and Joel Gibson
Sydney Morning Herald

ALMOST $50 million paid into a special fund set up to make sure mining royalties benefit Northern Territory Aborigines has remained unspent over the past 10 years, it has been revealed.

Only about $4 in every $10 of the $80 million the Federal Government had available to spend as grants using the Aboriginals Benefit Account made its way to indigenous communities by the end of the 2005/06 financial year, an Opposition analysis has found.

In every financial year between 1997 and 2006, the money available from the account was underspent. In 2005/06 alone, almost $6 million was put into an investment pot instead of going to communities, figures analysed by the office of Labor's indigenous affairs spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, reveal.

"In the face of [massive indigenous] unemployment, we've got a huge underspend in the Aboriginal Benefit Account - money which could have been used to create jobs and economic development," Ms Macklin said last night.

The unused funds, which the Government has the discretion to spend with the advice of an indigenous committee, have been put in a reserve that has swelled to more than $120 million.

Allowing such a large amount to accumulate in an uncommitted reserve is questionable policy when indigenous need in the Northern Territory is so great, said Jon Altman, the director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University.

"Do you use it for a rainy day or do you use it to address Aboriginal disadvantage today?" Professor Altman said.

The Government said it would spend $50 million from the account in its 2004 election promises on economic development projects, ranging from improving indigenous art quality to boosting indigenous involvement in aquaculture. By June 2006 only about $2.4 million had been spent, Ms Macklin's office concluded from figures in the account's annual report.

The Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, this year approved $4 million to go towards building an Alice Springs indoor aquatic centre, against the advice of his indigenous advisory committee, which said the plan was "based on the lack of measurable benefit to indigenous people", the Herald revealed yesterday. Mr Brough said he had decided the centre was beneficial.

Although using the fund now was a good idea, Mr Brough should carry out indigenous wishes and resist the temptation to use it for Government programs, Professor Altman said.

The account is funded by royalties paid to the Federal Government by mining companies for using Aboriginal land. The Government pays an amount equal to the royalties into the account. "Technically it is public money, but its whole intent is to be used for Aboriginal benefit for Aboriginal priorities," Professor Altman said.

Mr Brough said money from the account was not returned to consolidated revenue, but was spent for indigenous people's benefit. "I have had many applications for access to the account," he said. "However, I'm not simply handing out the funds to anyone who wants them. That practice in indigenous affairs is in the past.

"The nonsensical comments from Professor Altman are indicative of a preferred approach to give funds to any organisation on principles that are not sound and it would be unsound to even consider them."