Penny Wong has accused Peter Dutton of diminishing Australia on the world stage after the opposition leader vowed to abolish the ambassador for First Nations People.
Dutton said on Monday that Australians “haven’t got enough money in their own budget, but they’ve got the prime minister flying this guy around the world business class doing I don’t know what”.
Wong came to the defence of Justin Mohamed, a Gooreng Gooreng man from Bundaberg in Queensland who was appointed last year as Australia’s inaugural ambassador for First Nations People.
“Well, it’s disappointing that Mr Dutton doesn’t see a role for Indigenous Australians in representing Australia, and we see again his character on display,” the foreign affairs minister told reporters on the sidelines of UN meetings in New York.
“He divides us at home and, frankly, he diminishes us in the world.”
On Monday the Daily Telegraph highlighted Mohamed’s travel expenses with a front-page splash headlined “First Nations globetrotter”.
The paper reported that a travel budget of more than $350,000 was approved last financial year for nine overseas trips, including to the US, Switzerland, Vanuatu and Dubai.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the freedom of information request had been “made by an unknown party”, but the Coalition later issued a statement saying these itineraries had been “obtained by the opposition”.
The opposition’s waste spokesperson, James Stevens, sought to draw a link between diplomacy and remote communities. He said in the statement that the business-class travel “couldn’t be further from the serious challenges facing Indigenous communities in remote and regional Australia”.
Dutton used an interview with 2GB radio on Monday to claim that the position was “a waste of money” and “nobody can point to what it’s achieved”.
“If it is the case that we win the next election, that position will be abolished on day one, and that money will be spent to help Australians who are struggling at the moment to keep a roof over their head, or to pay their electricity bill,” the opposition leader said.
“It’ll be a very different way of governing if we win the next election. But at the moment, the waste, I think, is just frustrating and annoying people.”
The national director of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (Antar), Blake Cansdale, raised concerns about Dutton’s comments.
“Diminishing First Nations representation in domestic and foreign affairs would only serve to further entrench the existing torment of our people’s powerlessness,” Cansdale, an Anaiwan man, said.
“I quiver to think what kind of further retrograde derailing of First Nations people’s rights and interests Dutton has in mind when he says ‘it’ll be a very different way of governing if we win the next election’.”
A spokesperson for Wong said First Nations diplomacy was “a powerful element of our engagement with the Pacific given the strong First Nations cultural and historical connections with our region”.
“It is one of the ways we are rebuilding our relationship with the Pacific family after Mr Dutton and the Liberals disrespected Pacific leaders and neglected Pacific priorities over nine long years, leaving a vacuum for other countries to fill,” the spokesperson said.
Mohamed had helped secure greater access for Indigenous peoples to the Human Rights Council, the spokesperson said. They also said the ambassador “was essential” to delivering a groundbreaking treaty securing formal recognition of First Nations people’s genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
The Labor senator Jana Stewart, who chairs the joint standing committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, said First Nations Australians were “the custodians of the world’s oldest living, unique and enduring culture and are significant contributors to the economy”.
“It makes a huge amount of sense for this to be represented on the international stage,” the Mutthi Mutthi and Wamba Wamba woman said.
“Through the parliamentary inquiry into the opportunities and barriers to economic prosperity for First Nations Australians, we’re exploring practical changes to supercharge First Nations economic prosperity including through trade.”
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said Mohamed was “helping First Nations businesses and trade internationally”.
McCarthy, a Yanyuwa Garrawa woman, acknowledged cost-of-living pressures were “at the forefront for all Australians” but noted that diplomats and ambassadors “still represent our country throughout crises”.
“Ambassador Mohamed is doing the same for First Nations businesses across the world,” she told Sky News.
When the government announced the inaugural appointment in March last year, it said Mohamed would lead the Office of First Nations Engagement in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“Together they will work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to progress Indigenous rights globally, and help grow First Nations trade and investment,” the announcement said.
Mohamed was contacted for a response via the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
