Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

Mismanaged Aboriginal funding is turning an audit into a nightmare for the New South Wales Labor government.

The damning 45-page Auditor-General report described the handling of Closing the Gap initiatives as ineffective.

Weighed down by overly complicated procedures and a lack of “strategic guidance,” Closing the Gap programs are “not operating effectively,” the audit explained.

Additionally, there is “no clear accountability because governance arrangements did not provide adequate oversight.”

Consequently, a sizeable portion of the $222 million taxpayer funds allocated to Closing the Gap projects had disappeared.

Since 2020, the NSW Govt has spent $222M on ‘Closing the Gap.’

The objective of the $ was to ‘overcome entrenched inequality faced by Aboriginal people’.

The Auditor-General looked into where the money has gone and found half of it ‘led to no tangible outcomes for First Nations… pic.twitter.com/CnbdOfLyqF

— John Ruddick MLC (@JohnRuddick2) June 3, 2025

Blame Game

Bureaucratic dysfunction and a faux partnership between the NSW government and the Indigenous rights group NSW CAPO (Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations) were largely to blame.

According to the audit, while attempts have been made to build a team made up of both groups, no “genuine partnership has been achieved.”

The audit’s reasons for this were twofold:

1. Political cowardice: Labor’s “approach to monitoring the progress of project expenditure” is passive.
2. Power struggle: There are “fundamental disagreements between the NSW government and NSW CAPO about roles and responsibilities.”

COVID-19, “consultation fatigue” among Aboriginal communities, and how Australians voted in “The Voice” referendum, were also cited as “barriers” to bridge-building between the two groups.

Both seem to blame each other for governance and accountability failures.

NSW Labor claims the Indigenous rights group is half-hearted about a partnership.

CAPO, in response, implied the concept of partnership was racist and accused the government of trying to disempower Aboriginal activism.

Arguing over “partnership funding,” CAPO added that 13 million dollars wasn’t enough for its activist bureaucracy to “participate more meaningfully” in any partnership.

Nine million dollars was allocated to CAPO in 2022-2023 by leftist and former Liberal Treasurer, Matt Kean.

This was in addition to four million dollars CAPO had already received between 2021 and 2022 to fund “participation in governing” Close the Gap projects.

The $9 million was intended for 22 full-time staffers, which included six central office positions.

However, there is no evidence that this $9 million was used “in the way it was planned,” the report concluded.

When CAPO and NSW Labor were asked to provide the receipts, the auditor received no reply.

Closing the Gap Missing and Misplaced Millions

Overall, 222 million dollars from former Liberal NSW Treasurer Matt Kean’s taxpayer-funded budget was allocated to “develop and deliver Closing the Gap” projects.

$98 million went to the Premier’s department, and $33 million went to the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, to fund “partnership and reform initiatives.”

$72 million went to the Department of Communities and Justice and NSW Health.

At least $9 million appears to be either unaccounted for or missing.

The entire circus is a disgrace.

Tax-Payers and Aboriginal Australians Deserve Better

Management inadequacies and funding discrepancies, all in the name of achieving equality, raise questions about the Minns government’s priorities.

Appearing to look one way while Aboriginal funding goes another will not fill NSW voters with confidence in Labor’s ability, or desire, to govern well.

Australian workers deserve value for money – a fair exchange for what the bloating bureaucracy increasingly takes from us.

If not, the state should give it all back, so Australians can fund charities free of politicians charging us to play the middleman.

This is the way to true liberation.

We leave behind the fat cat career bureaucrats, who’ve gotten rich off taxes.

By doing so, we also bankrupt those who continue to profit from pain by perpetuating a permanent state of racial division in Australia.

This way we are free to give our Aboriginal neighbours a direct hand-up, free of politicians, and the apparent corruption.

Since 2020, none of the 19 National Agreement targets for improving the socio-economic gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians have been met in NSW.

As of 2022, only seven Closing the Gap targets were designated as “being on track” to be met by 2031.

Dedicating a page to detailing its recommendations, the NSW auditor general said clearer accountability was necessary.

If Closing the Gap is to become a reality, the State and CAPO need to agree on building a genuine partnership.

The audit then encouraged CAPO to protect its integrity and image by being transparent about expenditure and outcomes.

___

Image via Adobe.