Thieving off Australian Taxpayers: Pascoe's State-Sanctioned Crime
Beyond a reasonable doubt - Pascoe is an identity thief
Bruce Pascoe has published more than 30 books. He owns properties, an Aboriginal bush food company and sells an Aboriginal beer. He has gained international and domestic recognition and is a professor at one of our oldest leading research institutions. In 1988 he published his first novel and became the coordinator of Australian Studies for the Commonwealth Schools Commission during the Hawke government era. He left in the 1980s to write and publish the magazine Australian Short Stories.[1]
It appears Pascoe first identified as an Aboriginal person in the early 1990’s.
The Motive
“I'd just moved from Mallacoota to Melbourne to work as a drama resource teacher. My relationship was imploding, I had no money and I'd just started the Australian Short Stories magazine” [2]
Between 1988 to 2021 Bruce Pascoe identified as
Aboriginal 3
Indigenous writer 2
Yuin and Boonwurrung people 1
Non-aboriginal 1
Bunurong (south-central Victoria), Yuin (NSW south coast), Tasmanian Aboriginal, ancestry from Cornwall in the UK 1
Boonwurrung clan 1
Bunurong, Tasmanian and Yuin man 1
Koori 1
A descendant of the Ballarat and Geelong Aboriginal communities 1
The Bunurong, Yuin, Wiradjuri, Tasmanian 1
A tribe bordering the Wathaurong of Geelong and Colac Victoria 1
Yuin man 1
Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian 1
Bunurong, Yuin, Tasmanian, South Australian Aboriginal connection 1
Indigenous historian 1
Aboriginal ancestor was a great-grandmother on his mother's side - like Sarah Matthews: "Mine is only a remote Aboriginal heritage" 1
Irish, German, Cornish and Aboriginal 1
Aboriginal writer 1
Koori and Cornish antecedents 1
Boonwurrung heritage 1
Senior Bunurong/Yuin man 1
Bunurong and Cornish heritage 1
Whitish man 1
Bunurong descendant 1
Yuin and Bunurong man 1
Bunurong man 1
Yuin, Bunurong [Boonwurrung] and Tasmanian Aboriginal 1
Bunurong, Punniler panner and Yuin 1
Aboriginal descent, a genealogist informed him, his great-grandmother is a Bunurong woman 1
Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian 1
Grand Total 33
The timeline of Pascoe's claims
When did Pascoe become an Aboriginal person?
In 1999 Pascoe was an Aborigine at 30 yrs old - a genealogist told him
On 25 December 1999, Pascoe told Martin Flanagan of The Age, he knew he was an Aboriginal person at 30 years old as a genealogist informed him
He was 30 when he discovered that he was of Aboriginal descent on his mother's side. His inquiries into his family history had always baulked at his mother's mother. In the end, he employed a genealogist who informed him - in his own words, a person who had grown up white and been educated white - that his great-grandmother was a Bunurong woman from South Gippsland
In 2007 Pascoe was an Aborigine at 18 yrs old
On 29 September 2007 Pascoe told the Australian: My relationship was imploding, I had no money and I'd just started the Australian Short Stories magazine. And at the same time I was trying to track down my Koori heritage. It was like living in a jet turbine ... Mine is only a remote Aboriginal heritage, going back to my mother's grandmother. But ever since I was a boy, Aborigines asked me who I was. I always said, I'm Alf Pascoe's son." It wasn't until I was 18 that I realised that wasn't what they were asking
In 2008 Pascoe spoke the Wathaurong language as a child: My great-grandmother adopted a new identity … It was quite common between 1840 and 1920 for young Victorian women to change their identities ... When I decided to teach myself my great grandmother's language I found a list of thirteen words. I turned to the language of the neighbouring Wathaurong and began to learn it and use it with my family.
In 2019 Pascoe has indigenous ancestors on both sides of his family
On 25 May 2019 Pascoe told The Australian he has traced them to Tasmania, to the Bunurong people of Victoria and the Yuin of southern NSW.
In 2020 Pascoe is searching for his unknown Aboriginal ancestors
On 28 November 2020 Pascoe told the Sydney Morning Herald: The author, who traces his ancestry to the Yuin people from the NSW South Coast and the Boonwurrung people, lives at Gipsy Point, upstream from Mallacoota (place of sacred white pipe clay), in Victoria ... My cousin Barbara and I continue to search the records. Some of the information has turned out to be incorrect but new material has also been found. Mum was convinced of a Tasmanian connection on Dad’s side to and we are searching that line at the moment.
In 2020 Pascoe is an Aborigine at 9 yrs old
On 12 December 2020 Pascoe told The ABC's Benjamin Law:
"... I knew [I was Aboriginal] because my uncle told me when I was about nine. At 17, I was working for my uncle casually in the summer holidays, and he introduced me to a lot of family. Around 30, my daughter asked me about photographs in the album I’d never questioned: “Who’s this person? Why do they look like that?” Who were they and what did they look like? Well, my great-grandfather was a dark-skinned man. And there was an auntie in there, also dark skinned".
All Pascoe's ancestors are English
More than three Aboriginal groups have rejected his Aboriginal heritage. A Yuin letter has been acquired rejecting Pascoe. Jason Briggs, a Victorian traditional owner has also rejected Pascoe's Aboriginal heritage claim. His mother has been fighting to stop Pascoe for a long time and she has suffered. Tasmanian traditional owners have rejected Pascoe's claim in writing. Briggs is in dispute with the Andrew's government concerning money being given to organisations without checking Aboriginality claims.
Bruce Pascoe is not an Aboriginal person which has been established by a comprehensive genealogy search and the three Aboriginal groups Pascoe claims to belong. Retired author Jan Holland researched Pascoe’s family records and found Pasoce's ancestors are all English. These claims are supported by a genealogical study containing 5500 words of text plus 75 original documents published online. A professional genealogist checked her work and confirmed its accuracy.
Pascoe has refused to produce evidence of his claim to be of Aboriginal descent and much of it can be described as obfuscation. He presents himself as an Aboriginal person contrary to his recorded genealogy and there have made a few admissions in public which are contradictory.
His behaviour undermines Aboriginal people and their proud heritage and potentially promotes racial divisions and disturbs our tolerance of difference which will be addressed below.
Award, Grants and Positions
In 2013, Pascoe won the Prime Minister's Literary Award (Young Adult Fiction) and in the same year he published Fog a Dox. In 2018 he received the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. In 2007 he wrote for Aboriginal Studies Press. Bruce Pascoe is a privileged Australian.
Pascoe has won other literary prizes. His texts are taught and his misrepresentation of the hunter gatherer facts are treated as factually accurate by politicians, journalists, the ABC, SBS, NITV, Melbourne University, the National Library of Australia, many bureaucrats, the arts and more.
Pascoe has been appointed as an Aboriginal professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and at Melbourne University, as Professor of Aboriginal Agriculture (a discipline qualified academic professionals have proven could not have existed). The university receives federal funding to support Pascoe's appointment and his associated affairs. University of Melbourne and UTS has rejected my request for an investigation into Pascoe's false identity claims and his attempts to alter Australian explorer history records and Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Universities receive federal funding to support Pascoe's appointments and associated affairs.
He also benefits from several Commonwealth grants and awards which are designed for Aboriginal people who compared to Pascoe live in dire circumstances and cannot access the government and the media like Bruce Pascoe can.
Morry Swartz, owner of the Saturday Paper and Black Books Inc has recently published Pascoe's new book, Salt. I believe the Saturday Paper may have won a government grant recently which makes the recent non factual article about Pascoe more distasteful.
Pascoe's relative lives in Kempsey and runs a bush food business which has appropriated a Yuin sacred totem the Umbarra or black duck for its logo. My Kempsey relatives do not know of this Pascoe relative and we know who we belong to in our communities. The Dark Emu Exposed group has been tracking Pascoe's financial links and more.
The ABC receives federal funding for Aboriginal programs and this includes the production company for the planned Pascoe documentary. Despite Aboriginal community objections and the outcry from Aboriginal representatives, I believe the ABC intends to go ahead and produce and screen the Pascoe documentary which promotes inaccurate Australian historical facts and misrepresents Aboriginal culture. Many ABC journalists have publicly supported Pascoe's false claims and I believe everyone who has supported this fraudulent behaviour deserve to be reprimanded.
Certainly selling books on false pretences is fraudulent and Dark Emu book sale proceeds have been significant. The fact the childrens book version, Young Dark Emu has been published and is being distributed to Australian infant and primary schools is profoundly disturbing to many Australians.
Commonwealth fraud is a serious matter. Not only can it constitute a criminal offence it also reduces desperately needed funds in Aboriginal communities for delivering housing and other valuable community services. It also undermines the integrity of the government because communities tend to blame the federal government for its lack of action. The Australian community rightly expects entities and officials to acknowledge and fulfil their responsibilities as stewards of public funds to make every effort possible to protect valuable public resources.
It is in the public interest to hold Pascoe to account
One feature and one facet of the public interest is that justice should always be done and should be seen to be done" Ellis v. Home Office [1953] 2 Q.B. 135, at p. 147, per Morris L.J.
It is inherent in the proper administration of justice that the appearance of justice has been done, which has not occurred for the ordinary concerned Australians who will have suffered the broad reaching societal consequences of the distortion of Australian historical facts and Aboriginal cultural heritage. It is also not difficult to contemplate the fact contemporary Aboriginal people living in communities across Australia are struggling to cope with growing numbers of false Aboriginal heritage claims:
fraudsters;
child abuse offenders;
housing overcrowding;
family separations;
high incarceration rates;
domestic violence;
poverty;
And access to the economic advantages of those privileged powerful Australians within our institutional environments who have recklessly promoted Pascoe's proven lies, and take for granted, or do not care about the relationship between the misrepresentation of the facts, and the challenges, ordinary Aboriginal people face on the ground. The reach of distorting facts should never be underestimated or dismissed.
Frankly the claim Aboriginal people were not hunter and gatherers has undermined our proud Aboriginal cultural heritage, cultural practices and beliefs. It is encouraging Aboriginal children to feel shameful about this proud heritage.
Summary
Comprehensive genealogical records have traced Pascoe's family on both sides of his family. The prosecution can engage an expert to verify this research. The genealogical records have been compiled by a professional genealogist, who has conducted a thorough investigation. The resulting report proves all Pascoe's ancestors were of English descent.
Pascoe has not been able to name his Aboriginal ancestors which is profoundly disturbing, given the number of awards and grants he has received for claiming it and he has been unable to provide evidence of his Aboriginal identity. He originally claimed his Aboriginal ancestry came from one of his two maternal great grandmothers, who he says were Boonwurrung women only to admit later, she was in fact, born in England. She was born in England according to genealogy records. He has also claimed to be descended from five Aboriginal tribes or groups in five separate States, including ancestors on the Lockhart River, he had previously described as white.
These inconsistencies are on the public record and could be used as prior inconsistent statements. It also goes to prove he has committed reckless and dishonest behaviour. It is relevant to mention his claims continue to generate harm and is considered offensive to many ordinary Aboriginal people, especially those living in Aboriginal communities across the country. The fact Pascoe has changed his Aboriginal heritage story so many times proves he has been inauthentic. Pascoe has lied and has been allowed to get away with not only altering historical records to justify his false claims, but he has proposed Aboriginal people were agriculturalists with no concrete scientific and historical evidence and no formal relevant academic qualifications. This is relevant because it has been his claim to Aboriginal heritage which has facilitated his unwarranted success.
Pascoe has claimed Aboriginal people lived in cottages with penned animals in communities of up to 1000 people. However, that would have been impossible. Can anyone name an Australian native animal which could be penned and/or harnessed? There were no hoofed animals in Australia before the First Fleet arrived in 1788. It would have been impossible for Aboriginal people to harass our unique native animal species for transport and/or to help haul materials (heavy rocks) strong enough to build fences and cottages and of course there was no steel. Yet, Pascoe has been able to convince our valued Australian institutions like the National Library of Australia, Melbourne University and University of Technology Sydney, State education departments, libraries, the ABC, SBS and NITV and others, Aboriginal people practiced agriculture and penned native animals before the arrival of the First Fleet, without a shred of evidence. There is no such evidence in Aboriginal creation and dreaming stories and/or rock art. I have discovered there has been a hidden agenda driving these claims.
There has been a link between Pascoe's grand deceptions and the ability to obtain Commonwealth (and State) government funding. It has been proven Pascoe has falsely represented his Aboriginal heritage which is mentioned in all the awards and grants he has received listed above. In fact, it has been the main reason he has received these swards. This in turn means, these financial benefits have been obtained by deception. I reiterate, most of his awards and grants have been given to Pascoe specifically because of his claim to be of Aboriginal heritage.
Pascoe has falsely claimed Aboriginal people were agriculturalists and was able to obtain a grant because of it (Point 1 above). His deliberate deception has been his ability to induce grant provider(s) to believe he is a person of Aboriginal descent. He is not. The person practising the deception must know it is false or know there is a substantial and unjustifiable risk, it is false.
Commonwealth fraud is a serious offence. Not only can it constitute a criminal offence, Pascoe's behaviour is also reducing funds which are desperately needed in Aboriginal communities to deliver housing and other much needed vital services. It also undermines the integrity of the government because Aboriginal community members who are well aware of Pascoe's false Aboriginal heritage claims (together with many others who hold power in their communities), so they blame the Federal government for its lack of action. Australians rightly expect our governments and other entities to acknowledge and fulfil their responsibilities as stewards of public funds and to make every effort possible to protect valuable public resources (and in this instance, much more).
Aboriginal identity fraud claims have been flourishing in Aboriginal communities for years and it is causing harm and generating anger because Aboriginal people assume the government and by association, the Australian people do not care. The government and other powerful people continue to ignore the undeniable evidence proving Bruce Pascoe has no Aboriginal ancestors together with the fact his claims are false, harmful and offensive to many Aboriginal people. Pascoe also appears to hate our democratic representative government. He praises China (refer to references in his essay, The Imperial Mind) and he calls Australians murderers of which there is little evidence. His extremist views are silencing Aboriginal people and consequently it is encouraging other fraudsters to flourish and push hard to enact their hidden agendas in some Aboriginal native title groups and some Aboriginal land councils across the country.
Given the number of awards and grants Bruce Pascoe and his associates have received (on false pretences), I believe a referral to the AFP is appropriate as a matter of urgency, in the public interest. As Pascoe's fraudulent schemes appear to involve instances of obtaining finances by deception, I also believe his franchise (and bush tucker business) is worthy of scrutiny. Certainly selling books on false pretences is fraudulent and Dark Emu book sale proceeds have been substantial, because Dark Emu has been distributed to our secondary schools and universities and is used as class texts. This is despite the fact there is no scientific and/or historical evidence to support Pascoe's demeaning claim, Aboriginal people were not hunter gatherers. The fact the children's book version, Young Dark Emu has been published and continues to be distributed to Australian infant and primary schools is profoundly disturbing for many Aboriginal and non Aboriginal Australians for obvious reasons.
General dishonesty
I still believe Pascoe's dishonest franchise is worthy of scrutiny not just for the offences pursuant to Part 7.3—Fraudulent conduct, Criminal Code Act 1995, as well as others which will be discussed in another paper.
There is considerable overlap across the general dishonesty offences under s135.1 and the offences of obtaining either property or deception and by a financial advantage under s134.1 and s134.2 as the conduct which constitutes an offence of obtaining either property or a financial advantage by deception will also constitute one or more of the offences of general dishonesty under s135.1.
Obtaining a gain, pursuant to - Section 135.1 Criminal Code Act 1995, No. 12, 1995, Compilation No. 105
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person does anything with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain from another person; and
(b) the other person is a Commonwealth entity.
Indictable Penalties
Committed on or before 24 August 2018, the maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment.
Committed on or after 25 August 2018, the maximum penalty is 10 years’ imprisonment.
Summary Penalties
Committed on or before 24 August 2018, the maximum penalty when heard summarily is 12 months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of 60 penalty units.
Committed on or after 25 August 2018, the maximum penalty when heard summarily is two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of 120 penalty units
Pascoe's Commonwealth gain as a result of his dishonest conduct (this is not meant to be an extensive list)
1. On or about 2013 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be of Bunurong heritage with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain namely from the Prime Minister’s Literary Award of $80,000 from another person, The Australia Council for the Arts, which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
In 2013 'Bunurong heritage' Pascoe receives the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards (Kevin Rudd) 2013, Young adult fiction to Bruce Pascoe for Fox a Dox. Arts Minister Tony Burke announced the winners who each received a tax-free $80,000 award. From the Publisher’s information: “Bruce is a member of Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative, Bunurong heritage, and is a Board member of Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages”.
2. On 2014 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be of Australian Indigenous writer with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain namely a trip to London from another person, The Australia Council for the Arts, which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
In 2014 'Indigenous' Pascoe attends a London Writers Festival
Pascoe received a benefit from Australia Council for the Arts a Federal Government Department
In 2014, the "festival was opened to a sellout crowd with a welcome by Maori writer Witi Ihimaera and Australian Indigenous writer Bruce Pascoe, followed by Tim Winton in conversation with Kirsty Lang"
3. On 2014 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be a Bunurong author and an Indigenous Australian with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain from another person, The Special Broadcasting Service, which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
In 2018 'Bunurong author' Bruce Pascoe receives an award Pascoe received a benefit from a Federal Government Agency SBS (NITV).
“Bunurong author, Uncle Bruce Pascoe” was awarded the Person of the Year award at the National Dreamtime Award.
4. On or about 2018 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be an 'Indigenous historian' and/or an expert in 'first Australians agricultural systems' with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain from another person, namely Screen Australia and Australian Broadcasting Corporation which are Commonwealth entitIes, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). Bruce Pascoe 'Indigenous historian' to make a film based on 'first Australians agricultural systems'.
"Dark Emu: A documentary from Blackfella Films based on the award-winning book of the same name, written by Bruce Pascoe. The series will take audiences on a revelatory and inspiring journey across Australia to present a very different history of our nation and the First Australians. The series is written by Bruce Pascoe (Black Chook) and Jacob Hickey (First Contact). It will be directed by Erica Glynn (She Who Must Be Loved), and produced by Darren Dale (First Australians) and Belinda Mravicic (Black Chook). The series received principal production investment from Screen Australia’s Indigenous Department in association with the ABC. Financed with support from Screen NSW with Film Victoria".
5. On 2018 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be a 'Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian' person of Aboriginal hertiage and/or dishonestly asserted 'Aboriginal people were not nomadic hunter gatherers before European colonisation' with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain of $25,000 from another person, namely The Australia Arts Council which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
In 2018 'Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian' Bruce Pascoe presented with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature for disproving 'the long-held myth that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were nomadic hunter gatherers before European colonisation'
Australian Federal Government Award value: $25,000
In March 2018, Bruce Pascoe was presented with the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. Bruce is an award-winning Yuin, Bunurong and Tasmanian author who has written over thirty books spanning fiction, non-fiction and children’s titles. Seven in ten Australians agree that books by Australian writers about Australian subjects help us understand ourselves and our country.1 The Australia Council has long supported Bruce’s work, which is helping a national and international audience understand the strength of Aboriginal culture and knowledge, and its centrality to Australia’s history.
Bruce Pascoe’s award winning non-fiction book Dark Emu, published in 2014, is a monumental work of scholarship that disproved the long-held myth that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were nomadic hunter gatherers before European colonisation. Dark Emu reached No. 11 on the Independent Booksellers bestseller list and after 16 reprints it has sold over 35,000 copies.
UK and US editions of Dark Emu and a new Australian edition are due for publication in 2018. Dark Emu was published by Magabala Books, based in Broome, which the Council supports through Four Year Funding. One of the most remote publishing houses in the world, First Nations-owned Magabala Books is one of Australia’s leading small publishers. Magabala Books has been publishing important First Nations stories since 1987 and has participated in a number of the Council’s strategic market development programs including the Visiting International Publishers Program and the India publishing delegation.
The organisation has a national and international reputation for the quality of its titles and for nurturing First Nations artists, authors, illustrators and storytellers to bring their stories to publication. In 2017 Magabala Books published nine new titles, sold more than 93,000 books throughout Australia and overseas, and achieved sales that were 24% over forecast. Six authors and illustrators made their publishing debut. With philanthropic support, Magabala piloted a new commissioning strategy, starting with the engagement of an educational specialist to work with Bruce Pascoe to develop a primary edition of Dark Emu and secondary educational resources. Dark Emu has also been adapted for the stage by Bangarra Dance Theatre, touring nationally from June 2018. Through dance, the production celebrates Aboriginal peoples’ strength, resilience and profound knowledge of agriculture and aquaculture
6. Between 2018 and 2019 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be of Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian Aboriginal heritage and/or dishonestly asserted 'to be an anthologist,' with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain of being an Aboriginal Elder in Residence from another person, namely The Australian Film Television and Radio School which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
Between 2018 to 2019 Bruce Pascoe, anthologist, of Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian heritage
In the Indigenous Section, Elder in Residence Uncle Bruce Pascoe is an award-winning Australian writer, editor and anthologist. He is of Bunurong, Yuin and Tasmanian heritage”.
7. On 2019 at Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, Bruce Pascoe dishonestly held himself out to be of Yuin Aboriginal heritage and/or dishonestly asserted knowledge about First Australians Agricultural Systems with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a gain of $25,263 from another person namely Community Grants Hub which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to s135.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
In 2019 'Yuin man' Bruce Pascoe Federal Government Grant for First Australians Agricultural Systems
Australian Federal Government Grant - $25,263 from the Small Farms Round 2
Bruce Pascoe is a Director of Pascoe Publishing Pty Ltd, as well as his family members there are no Yuin directors of it at the time of this grant.
"Black Duck Foods is a company that has been established to support the inclusion of indigenous Australians in the production of native food. The company is based at Black Duck Farm which on is situated on the Wallagraugh River in ‘Yuin Country’. The property is owned and run by Bruce Pascoe, a Yuin man, and the author of Dark Emu, a history of the agricultural systems of First Australians. The farm will produce native grains and tubers for the food industry which is already desperate for the product. This project will oversee the early stages of the farms shift away from annual pasture and over stocking".
If politicians must prove Australian citizen eligibility to be elected to Parliament, it should not be a problem to present evidence of Aboriginal heritage.
Dual Citizenship and Members of Federal Parliament
The interpretation of Section 44 (i) of the Australian Constitution, an individual holding dual citizenship is ineligible for election to the Commonwealth Parliament, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to renounce that citizenship.
On 27 October 2017, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns in Re Canavan (2017) 349 ALR 534, delivered judgment in the matter of these seven Commonwealth parliamentarians. The Court unanimously held five of the seven, Barnaby Joyce, Scott Ludlam, Fiona Nash, Larissa Waters and Malcolm Roberts were disqualified from being elected or sitting in Parliament by s 44 (i) as a result of dual citizenship. Matt Canavan and Nick Xenophon were held to have not been disqualified.
The Court in Re Gallagher examined the reasonable steps exception disqualification under S 44(i) and the Court indicated reasonable steps to renounce foreign citizenship will necessarily depend on the requirements of the law of the foreign power and accepted the submission of the Commonwealth Attorney General,
‘it is not enough for a candidate merely to have taken steps to renounce his or her foreign citizenship. Unless the relevant foreign law imposes an irremediable impediment to an effective renunciation, it is necessary that a candidate actually have divested himself or herself of his or her status as a foreign citizen before the commencement of the process of being chosen to which s 44(i) applies’[3].
If politicians must prove Australian citizen eligibility to be elected to Parliament, it should not be a problem to present evidence of Aboriginal heritage.
In 1992, the High Court, Justice Brennan's Mabo (No. 2) judgement confirmed someone must have Aboriginal heritage to claim to be an Aboriginal person:
‘Membership of the indigenous people depends on biological descent from the indigenous people and on mutual recognition of a particular person's membership by that person and by the elders or other persons enjoying traditional authority among those people.’[4]
In 2007, Bruce Pascoe declared in an Op Ed in the Age Newspaper,
‘I’m not very black. I’m sure that in years to come the Aboriginal community will be under pressure from bureaucracies to exclude people whose heritage is from a great-grandmother who did everything she could to become white, to merge with the master class.’[5]
In the High Court, Justice Brennan's 1992 Mabo (No. 2) judgement confirmed someone must have aboriginal heritage to claim to be an Aboriginal person:
‘Membership of the indigenous people depends on biological descent from the indigenous people and on mutual recognition of a particular person's membership by that person and by the elders or other persons enjoying traditional authority among those people.’[6]
See Pascoe Letters to Minister Dutton here
References
[1] Martin Flanagan, The Proud Map-maker, The Age, 25 December 1999
[2] Drew Warne-Smith, The Australian Magazine, 29 September 2007
[3] Re Canavan (2017) 349 ALR 534, 7–10 [22]–[34] (Kiefel CJ, Bell, Keane,
Nettle and Gordon JJ), 11–12 [41]–[45] (Gageler J), 15–16 [58]–[60] (Edelman J).
[4] Mabo v Qld (No. 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1 at p. 70
[5] Bruce Pascoe, Time to meet the Aborigines you weren't taught about, The Age, 31 May 2007, https://www.theage.com.au/national/time-to-meet-the-aborigines-you-werent-taught-about-20070531-ge50mw.html
[6] Mabo v Qld (No. 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1 at p. 70