Creative accounting robs Aborigines of funds

Joel Gibson and Debra Jopson
August 21, 2007

HUNDREDS of millions of dollars the Commonwealth claims to have spent on indigenous affairs has either never been spent, been used to benefit all Australians or gone towards opposing native title claims.

A significant portion of the billions the Government has said it has spent since 2000, climbing annually to $3 billion last year, was either underspent or the result of creative accounting, an Age investigation has found.

Over the past six years, at least $30 million the Government promoted as being for Aborigines was used to oppose indigenous native title and compensation claims……………………Almost $250,000 spent over the past six years on courts and tribunals sorting out native title issues has been counted as money for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders……………………

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/creative-accounting-robs-aborigines-of-funds/2007/08/20/1187462178178.html