Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has accused Peter Dutton of diminishing Australia on the world stage after he pledged to abolish the First Nations Ambassador role if elected.
“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,” Wong told reporters at the United Nations in New York.
“He divides us at home, and frankly, he diminishes us in the world.”
On Monday, Dutton said in an interview with 2GB: “If it is the case that we win the next election, that position will be abolished on day one.”
“They’ve got the Prime Minister flying this guy around the world doing – I don’t know what.”
Dutton’s comments follow a report by the Daily Telegraph that the federal government spent more than $350,000 last financial year on nine overseas trips for the ambassador, including to the US, Switzerland, Vanuatu and Dubai.
Gooreng Gooreng man Justin Mohamed was appointed to the role in March 2023, marking the first time Australia has dedicated Indigenous representation in international engagement.
The role of the First Nations Ambassador includes promoting Indigenous businesses and cultural organisations to overseas markets.
Senator Wong was a key player in creating the role of First Nations Ambassador, having said in April that the position would help bring an Indigenous perspective to foreign policy.
In his stance against Ambassador Mohamed’s position, Dutton argued that “nobody can point to what it has achieved.”
Defending the role, a spokesperson for Wong told the ABC that First Nations diplomacy is a powerful tool for the government.
“Ambassador Mohamed has helped secure greater access for Indigenous peoples to the Human Rights Council, he was essential to delivering a groundbreaking treaty securing formal legal recognition of First Nations peoples’ genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and has boosted First Nations trade,” the spokesperson said.
“First Nations diplomacy is a powerful element of our engagement with the Pacific given the strong First Nations cultural and historical connections with our region.”
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.”
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, also said Mohamed was “helping First Nations businesses and trade internationally”.
While Dutton had argued that the money invested into a First Nations Ambassador should instead go towards providing assistance to Australians struggling in the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, McCarthy 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.
“We have incredible business opportunities that he’s been able to work with, but also with our Pacific neighbours.”
“One of the things that our country does is obviously assist in Fiji [and] Papua New Guinea, in Vanuatu. So, working with, at that level, from First Nations to Indigenous people in those areas, has also been important, and I’ve had that opportunity to meet with them as well.”