Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I wrote to the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, and the PM, regarding an investigation into an organisation which operated under the purview of the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations, or ORIC. I am still waiting for a response. I have requested a meeting with the minister to discuss what she is doing to ensure this investigation is expedited. I've asked about her justification for why its subjects are permitted to lead another organisation receiving taxpayer funding while this investigation is underway, her justification for why its subjects are permitted to remain in positions advising the Australian government, her explanation for why three investigators have been removed from the investigation when ready to recommend or initiate legal action and what action she took when first informed of this matter in 2021 in her capacity as the shadow minister for Indigenous Australians.

I am confident the minister will agree that such a matter should be resolved as soon as possible to give the Australian people, who possess immense goodwill to the goal of alleviating Indigenous disadvantage, confidence that their taxes are providing meaningful assistance to Indigenous people genuinely in need. I am sure the minister understands the need to restore this confidence before Australians are asked at the coming Voice referendum to approve the establishment of yet another Indigenous body and bureaucracy, funded by taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars. I've personally seen the evidence of this gross misuse of taxpayer funds, and I seek leave to table these documents for review by senators and the Australian people.