Decision to grant Mundine $320,000 for his television show on Sky News also raises questions during Senate estimates

Warren Mundine steps down from company that won contracts for Indigenous job services

Warren Mundine will step down – over a perceived conflict of interest – as chairman of a company that has been awarded government contracts to deliver Indigenous employment services.

Labor has called for a full accounting of all government grants provided to Mundine and any business he is involved in, after the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed it awarded $320,000 over two years to help produce Mundine’s Sky News television show.

The company, RISE Ventures, is contracted to provide services to the community development program (CDP) in six regions and was tentatively awarded new three-year contracts in December, in a joint venture with local Indigenous businesses.

The Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, signed off on the renewed contracts in December, about six weeks before Mundine, a former federal secretary of the Labor party, was named as the Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Gilmore, on the New South Wales south coast.

Warren Mundine picked by Scott Morrison to stand in marginal seat of Gilmore Read more

Scullion told Senate estimates on Friday he had received “verbal advice” that Mundine would step down as chairman before the writs were issued.

An hour later, that advice was confirmed in the form of a note delivered to the associate secretary of Indigenous affairs, Ray Griggs, who said Mundine “will be resigning from his position on Rise on Monday”.

The Labor senator Jenny McAllister criticised the department for not directly asking Mundine about his plans to resign before Friday, saying that continuing to negotiate aspects of the CDP contracts while Mundine remained chairman of the company created a perceived conflict of interest.

Mundine’s resignation risks the company being ineligible for the contract, which stipulates that providers must have a minimum 50% Indigenous ownership. RISE is 50-50 owned.

McAllister said the decision not to place negotiations on hold until the issue was resolved created a perception that RISE was being given additional leeway.

“In light of the fact that the person involved is a senior Liberal party operative since January, there is a problem.”

Griggs agreed there was an “absolute perception of conflict of interest; whether it’s a real conflict is another matter”.

Government releases damning review of its own Aboriginal work-for-the-dole scheme Read more

McAllister also criticised the decision to award Mundine $320,000 to produce two seasons of his television show, Mundine Means Business, on Sky News.

The department said in estimates that Mundine was awarded a $300,000 contract (excluding GST) in 2017, split between $200,000 in consultancy fees on Indigenous business policy and $100,000 to establish the television show, after he approached Scullion’s office with the proposal.

Scullion said he did not discuss the issue with Mundine.

In 2018, Mundine was awarded a grant of $220,000 to continue what Scullion described as his “very successful television show”.

He was unable to quantify its success, saying that was a “difficult question to answer” but the department “made a decision” that it was successful.

“Was there an evaluation made of the effectiveness of this blockbuster performance by Mr Mundine on Sky?” Labor senator Pat Dodson asked. “Were you able to say that as a consequence of the performance tonight there are 10 new businesses?”

McAllister asked if any other Aboriginal person had been given the opportunity to apply for funding to create a television program.

Scullion replied, “I suspect not.”

McAllister said: “A person who was known to be very close to the prime minister, is sitting on the prime minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, receives a direct grant that no one else was able to apply for to have a television program to raise his public profile, and then that person is a candidate for the Liberal party.

“Can you see the problem?

“There are other high profile, very successful, very intelligent Indigenous people and none of those people were given money to have a program on television.”

Scullion said there was no connection between Mundine’s later decision to run for the Liberal party and the awarding of the funds.