‘Improper process’ behind $558k for ‘yes’ campaign
More than $550,000 of taxpayer money was provided to the ‘yes’ campaign for an Indigenous voice to parliament without proper process, an audit has found.
The Tasmanian Community Fund (TCF) in February 2023 decided to support the ‘yes’ vote and later provided a grant to the group Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition.
Almost $276,000 of the $557,800 grant was spent on providing information about the referendum, including via conversation tables, workshops and promotional material in libraries, the audit found.
A national cross-media campaign cost $120,000, some $30,000 went to video production, another $20,000 was put towards a media consultant and $99,710 of the funds was not spent.
Tasmania’s auditor-general office, which released its review on Thursday, said the community fund’s decision to support the ‘yes’ vote and grant funding did not follow effective process.
The office found the fund’s assessment of the grant was not conducted in accordance with an established management framework.
The community fund did not record its reasons for backing ‘yes’ and its statements in support could have created a perception that subsequent funding decisions were not objective, the report said.
In response, the community fund “strongly disagreed” with the majority of the report, saying the auditor-general office failed to take a holistic view of its decision to support ‘yes’.
Tasmanian Community Fund director Alex McKenzie said the board accepted some of its documentation could have been better but records of deliberations were kept.
He said the auditor-general office did not consider the fund’s long-standing support for Tasmanian Aboriginal communities and its deep understanding of their needs.
“The report concluded that the TCF board did not properly consider the political context of its decision,” Mr McKenzie said.
“However, at the time the decision was made, all three leaders of the three main political parties in Tasmania had publicly supported the ‘yes’ vote.
“That is not recognised anywhere in the report.”
The referendum, held on October 14, returned a 60 per cent ‘no’ vote.
The audit report questioned whether the community fund’s categorisation of the grant as being for educational purposes was accurate and said processes for declaring and managing conflicts of interest were not documented.
“A significant portion was to be used for a media campaign with the aim of securing a successful outcome at the voice referendum,” the report said.
“It was not documented how this would support education in Tasmania.”
Tasmania’s Community Services Minister Roger Jaensch said the government would consider changes to laws governing the community fund.
“The use of public funds for political purposes does not meet community expectations and the government did not endorse, nor approve, this use of these funds,” he said.
The community fund is financed by state government appropriation, governed by an independent board and tasked with providing funds for community purposes.
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