Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Stronger Families and Stronger Communities) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, Australians were greeted with the extraordinary news that the nation's First Nations ambassador had run up a travel bill exceeding $730,000 in just two years. This included travel to destinations such as Hawaii, New York, Geneva, Dubai and Paris. This eye-watering sum would be galling at the best of times; in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, being presided over by the present Labor government, it is nothing short of an insult to hardworking Australians.

This is not an isolated lapse in judgement; it is the inevitable result of a role that should never have been created. The First Nations ambassador is a needless and divisive appointment and an expensive political indulgence, dressed up as progressive diplomacy. It's a role without a clear purpose, delivering no measurable outcomes and now exposed as a vehicle for exorbitant travel and unjustifiable perks.

Australians work hard and expect their taxes to be spent wisely on hospitals, schools, roads and defence. They do not expect to fund luxury international junkets for divisive public officials with vague or non-existent mandates. No other country has a dedicated ambassador for a race of people. There is simply no credible rationale for a taxpayer funded ambassador spending hundreds of thousands of dollars travelling the globe to implement a First Nations approach to foreign policy. What exactly has been achieved since this appointment? The government can't say and ministers defending the role only offer generic platitudes and have not identified a single tangible outcome—no major trade deals, no improvements for local communities, no measurable return on this extraordinary investment.

The role of the First Nations ambassador is another example of Labor's taxpayer funded virtue signalling, with hardworking Australians footing the bill so that Labor can seem like it is doing something about Indigenous disadvantage. The very concept of a separate ambassador for First Nations people is flawed. It suggests that Indigenous Australians speak with a fundamentally different voice to other Australians on the world stage, a racist proposition that undermines our unity. Australia is one nation. We should present one voice inclusive of all Australians, not segregate our diplomacy along racial lines. We already have a highly capable diplomatic service that promotes inclusive values and represents all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike. Our embassies showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture. Our international envoys acknowledge and celebrate Indigenous heritage. There is no need to create a pointless and expensive diplomatic post to do what our existing institutions already do.

The First Nations ambassador role is not only redundant; it is divisive. It reflects a broader mindset within the Labor government that Australians should be categorised by identity, race and grievance. We saw it with the failed Voice to Parliament; we see it in persistent talk of treaty and truth-telling commissions. Labor's instinct is always to separate, to classify and to divide, not to unite. Australians have rightly had enough. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the idea that some Australians should have more say than others based on their ancestry. They want unity, not division. They want practical outcomes, not symbolic gestures. They want a government that treats every citizen equally, regardless of their heritage.

This is not about denying the importance of Indigenous voices; it is about ensuring that those voices are heard where it matters—in parliament, in local communities and in national policymaking. We don't need a globetrotting ambassador to validate Indigenous Australians. We need to walk the walk at home, together as one united nation. The First Nations ambassador role must be abolished immediately, not wound down, not reviewed and not quietly sidelined. It is a waste of taxpayer money and a symbol of the very division that all Australians have rejected.

Senate adjourned at 20:13