A supposed bombshell document released under Freedom of Information (FoI) laws has allegedly revealed several proposals set to be put forward by the Indigenous voice to parliament.
The claim is false. There is no such document and the claim appears to confuse two different strands of existing misinformation.
The claims are made in two Facebook posts (here and here), with the social media user promising more posts across the week.
The first post (archived here) claims that those behind the voice are lying and their proposals have been revealed in documents released by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) under Freedom of Information (FoI) laws.
“Now let’s look at what has been released,” the post reads.
“We will just do a couple at a time so everyone can see just how ‘modest’ the lying crying little Prime Ministers (sic) proposal really is.”
The post then details two alleged proposals: “Aboriginals” will pay only 50 per cent the rate of income tax and “Aboriginal groups” will have ownership of beaches and national parks and charge “non-Aboriginal people” to use them.
The second post (archived here) lists another four proposals: Ten per cent of judges, magistrates, police, ADF officers, vice-chancellors and ambassadors to be “Aboriginals”, no entry tests or fees for “Aboriginals” attending university, 50 per cent discounts for “Aboriginals” attending sports and music events on public land and “Aboriginals” to have the first claim on all public housing.
Under the FoI Act, the NIAA and all other government agencies and departments must list releases of information in a disclosure log.
The NIAA log goes back to the 2019/20 financial year. There is nothing approaching what is claimed in the two posts in any of the documents released by the NIAA following FoI requests.
However, the supposed proposals in the posts are nearly identical to those featured on a list raised by One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson in the Senate on March 22 (page 130).
She claimed a list of proposals was sent to her anonymously by someone who said it had been left in a cafe, close to the NIAA office in Canberra.
There is no suggestion the document has anything to do with the NIAA and a representative has denied any knowledge of it. AAP FactCheck has previously addressed claims related to the document here.
The reference to an FoI request appears to come from another claim, also addressed by AAP FactCheck.
This concerned so-called “secret government documents” released following an FoI request to the NIAA.
The documents were in fact the minutes from 13 ‘regional dialogue’ consultation events held in 2016 and 2017. The consultations ultimately led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which called for the establishment of an advisory voice to parliament.
AAP FactCheck found claims made by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price regarding the documents to be misleading.
The Verdict
The claim an FoI request revealed the voice will propose several measures including a 50 per cent reduction in the rate of income tax for Indigenous Australians is false.
There is no mention of any of the supposed proposals in any FoI release on the NIAA’s disclosure log.
Instead, the claim appears to confuse two different claims on the subject of the voice.
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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