Brisbane ratepayers slugged with insane $135,000 Welcome to Country bill – and there’s nothing they can do about it

A council has spent more than $100,000 of ratepayer money on Welcome to Country ceremonies in the last two years. 

Brisbane City Council has shelled out $135,000 while other councils within Queensland have forked out tens of thousands of dollars. 

The ratepayers have no say in the matter, though, as it’s the councils they pay their fees to that have decided to spend big on the ceremonies. 

The renewed attention on Welcome to Country ceremonies followed the recent AFL finals, in particular the Giants versus Lions semi-final in Sydney where Aboriginal Elder Brendan Kerin said they ‘weren’t to cater for white people’.

‘It’s a ceremony we’ve been doing for 250,000 years BC – and the BC stands for Before Cook,’ he told the crowd, referring to Captain James Cook’s arrival in Australia in 1770. 

But the ceremony’s modern form was invented less than 50 years ago by TV personality Ernie Dingo’s dance troupe. 

The Great Outdoors presenter and his fellow dancers came up with the impromptu routine in 1976 after an awkward stand-off with Maori and Cook Islanders who refused to perform at Perth Arts Festival until they were ceremonially welcomed.

Almost 50 years on, it has reached a point where a surf club was told it would have to pay $2,000 to an Aboriginal corporation for the rights to hold surf events and a fundraising swim at a public beach. 

A spokeswoman said Brisbane City Council spent $84,711 on Welcome to Country ceremonies in 2023 and $50,490 so far this year, the Sunday Mail reported.

‘Welcome to Country ceremonies are organised for events, including citizenship ceremonies, civic receptions, and cultural and Indigenous events, which make up around 25 per cent of civic events held in 2023 and 2024,’ she said.

‘These ceremonies feature tribal dances with fire lighting and smoking ceremonies rather than an individual speaker.’

The standard fee for Welcome to Country ceremonies ranges from $300 to $750, according to National Association for the Visual Arts figures.

Peak body Reconciliation Australia said using Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country in meetings, gatherings and events shows respect by upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols. 

‘Taking the time to Acknowledge Country, or including a Welcome to Country at an event, reminds us that every day we live, work and dream on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands,’ the organisation said. 

But there is increasing frustration among ordinary Aussies at the practise and its cost, particularly during a cost of living crisis. 

The Yamba Surf Club, on NSW’s far north coast, made a request with the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation to use the town’s main beach to hold four events, including a nippers carnival and a fundraising ocean swim over summer.

But the club was told it would have to pay a $500 service fee for each event for the corporation to perform Welcome to Country ceremonies.

Richard Walley (pictured in 2022) led the Middar Aboriginal Theatre group in 1976, which included a young Ernie Dingo, and created the Welcome to Country with local Nyoongar Elders

Surf club members made the request after the Yaegl people were granted native title over land in the area in 2015, and a stretch of the ocean in 2017.

While club members were enraged by the fee, Yaegl Traditional Owners Corporation general manager Bill Walker said a ‘misunderstanding’ was to blame.

He said the request should have come from the local council or state government, and the fee charged to them – not the surf club. ‘It’s a confusing process. 

‘We get a lot of negative s*** from people who don’t understand the welcome to country. We don’t do it as a living, we do it as a cultural activity with a fee for service that brings in income just like any other organisation,’ he told News Corp.

‘If it’s a government agency that does it, we do charge because it’s a legitimate act. But we’re not going to charge the surf life saving club.

‘As far as I’m concerned they can still do their activities and we will not be charging them a fee for service, because the right people didn’t come to us in the first place.’ 

Surf club officials had written to the corporation telling them that they understood the importance of respecting native title rights ‘and are committed to ensuring that our activities comply with all relevant regulations and agreements’.

An official from the Yaegl wrote back to the surf club stating that a $500 ‘fee for service payment’ was required to be paid ‘directly to the Corporation who will then engage a Yaegl Native Title Holder to administer a Welcome to Country’.

‘The Corporation will send through an invoice for payment once the event has occurred and as we are a non for profit organisation we would appreciate a prompt turnaround time for payment to be administered,’ the letter said.

The Yamba Surf Club, on NSW’s far north coast, had made a request with the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation to use the town’s main beach to hold four events, including a nippers carnival and a fundraising ocean swim over summer 

‘This will support all visitors and participants to these fundraising events (to) retain an understanding of the importance of respecting Yaegl people’s Native Title Rights and Interests on Land and Sea and Waterways when competing (on) or visiting our beautiful Yaegl Country.’

But a surf club member member said a lot of locals were ‘outraged’ by the request.

‘It’s pretty un-Australian to charge anyone to use the beach, let alone volunteer surf lifesavers wanting to compete and raise funds for their club,’ he said.

Back in Queensland, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate faced criticism from local Aboriginal groups because the council did not read an Acknowledgement of Country at meetings.

But he told the ABC that ‘Everything is going great here. (During) citizenship (ceremonies) we do acknowledgment’.

‘Council business is council business. We do our national anthem and I think it’s good enough.’

There is also some opposition within Indigenous communities to Welcome to Country ceremonies.

Warren Mundine, a prominent Aboriginal campaigner who opposed last year’s Voice referendum, said Welcome to Country ceremonies had become ‘divisive’ and been ‘trivialised’.

‘I go to some conferences and you spend half the day doing Welcome to Country,’ he said.