The N.T government has suspended their Indigenous Employment Provisional Sum Policy after the allegations of fraud could no longer be ignored.
The policy was aimed at rewarding companies who employed Indigenous people with tenders and work contracts. It is alleged that an alarming amount of larger companies had been registering non Indigenous workers as Indigenous. Over the last 3 years, around 42 million dollars has been spent across various development projects. 6 companies have already been reported to police for investigation and there will likely be more to follow.
The Territory’s Housing Industry Authority had been warning the government that the lack of independent monitoring of the program could lead to abuse of the policy. The HIA had been warning the Government for over 12 months and even after a review was carried out by KPMG, it resulted in little change.
This is a breaking story and we will post updates to our website as more news comes in.
As a government source stated, “everyone is holding their breath right now. The investigation is going to get big and ugly”.
