Former Labor MP denies he is biased against Indigenous charities in Senate hearing

Labor has called on the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, to investigate the “offensive” views of the charities commissioner, Gary Johns, after the former Labor MP refused to back away from past comments that pregnant Indigenous women were being used as “cash cows”.

Johns, a minister in the Keating government, told a Senate estimates hearing this week that he had questioned his staff over the inclusion of an acknowledgement of traditional owners in their email signature, saying it could suggest the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission had a “bias” towards Indigenous charities.

Labor senator Jenny McAllister asked Johns if his own past statements – which included a comment on the Bolt Report in 2015 that Indigenous women were being “kept pregnant and producing children for the cash” – could be taken to suggest that he had a negative bias toward Indigenous charities, and whether he disavowed those statements now. Johns answered: “Absolutely not.”

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“I’m quite public, I’ve written for 30 years about a whole range of matters,” he said. “Why would I seek to disavow any of that?”

In a different Senate estimates committee on Friday, McAllister asked Scullion to investigate the matter.

“I would appreciate you taking this matter in hand,” she said. “We have got a government appointment of a person whose views about Indigenous people are, in my view, offensive.”

McAllister said Johns had “flatly refused to repudiate these views or to even distance himself from them”.

“I think it goes to a very serious problem in administration in the charities sector and one that ought to concern you as Indigenous affairs minister,” she said.

Scullion said he shared those concerns “in a broad sense” and would look into the matter before providing a formal response. He said he supported acknowledgements of county, in email signatures or otherwise.

“I can see no reason why they would either indicate bias or anything like that,” Scullion said.

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Speaking before an estimates committee on Wednesday evening, Johns said that he was concerned that the use of “we” in “we acknowledge the traditional owners” implied it was the position of the commission itself. He said he raised the issue with all commission staff and some had since changed their signature to “I acknowledge”.

Including acknowledgement of country in email signatures and on official documents is common practice across the public service.

Johns was appointed to the head of the commission last year amid criticism from the charity and not-for-profit sector because of his well-known views that charities should not be allowed to advocate for changes to government policy.

He has also attracted controversy for saying people on welfare should be required to take contraceptives and criticising suicide prevention charity BeyondBlue for supporting marriage equality.

Johns declined to comment further to Guardian Australia.