Libs to review welcome to country ceremonies if elected

By PETER ROWE

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will review Federal funding for Welcome to Country ceremonies if the Coalition is elected.

In a Trump-like move Coalition leader Peter Dutton wants Senator Price to slash Canberra bureaucracy and cut waste.

“Australians want to cut the waste, they want to make sure that outcomes are coming to life with the way in which taxpayer dollars are being spent by their government,” Senator Price told the ABC on Friday.

“I would like to look at an audit of the billions of dollars that are spent in the Indigenous space, so that we can understand where that can be better spent.

“I don’t believe that we should be spending $450,000 a term on Welcome to Country when that isn’t actually improving the life of a marginalised, Indigenous Australian.”

In response Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the decision showed the coalition was focused on ‘culture wars’.