Traditional owners say “excessive business” trips and a lack of financial transparency have motivated their push to replace leaders of a major Kimberley Aboriginal corporation. 

Based in Kununurra in WA’s far north, MG Corporation was set up almost two decades ago to help Miriwoong and Gajirrabeng people benefit from significant economic opportunities on their traditional land, particularly in irrigated agriculture.

The organisation also runs state and Commonwealth-funded programs to address long-term issues such as youth crime, poverty, and welfare dependency.

Politicians who visit Kununurra often spruik MG and its leaders as a model of Indigenous empowerment.

But some native title holders said they were angry over cutbacks to education and funeral support, amid concern over what they claim are excessive travel and employee expenses. 

This dissatisfaction about the organisation’s direction boiled over at its AGM last week, which was abandoned part-way through.

A petition was circulated calling for the removal of directors, including executive chair Lawford Benning. 

Members have told the ABC that a majority of people who supported the petition walked out and a quorum was lost.

As MG plans for another meeting, its lawyers are considering the petition to see if it meets corporation rules, with the petition’s backers confident of gaining the required support.

In a statement to the ABC, MG’s board of directors said it looked forward to answering detailed questions at a reconvened AGM.

Earlier this week the ABC reported on allegations MG broke voting rules when it re-appointed Mr Benning last year.

While the petition did not outline reasons its creators wanted directors stood down, the ABC has spoken to more than a dozen members of the corporation, and others who are familiar with its internal workings, who gave insight into the growing discontent.

Frequent flying

Members said a key point of frustration was a general unwillingness from leaders to answer their questions about MG’s finances and activities.

They wanted to know what was behind high staff and director turnover and why those in the general manager role struggled to last more than a year there.

They were also worried about the corporation’s once-profitable building company requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to prop it up in recent years.

But many traditional owners said they were most concerned about what they view as excessive spending on business trips, often to Perth, by executive chair Lawford Benning.

One person familiar with Mr Benning’s day-to-day work told the ABC Mr Benning had spent more than 50 per cent of his work time out of the Kununurra office, on work trips, in the past three months.

Mary Baird, a representative on MG Corporation’s 16-member Dawang Council, said she and others had raised this concern.

“We would like to know when he’s flying away to Perth, where he’s going, and what benefit that has for the corporation,” she said.

“At our last meeting, I did request an action item on each project that he’s working on so we can get a better understanding of what benefit his travel has.

MG’s directors said they were united in their support for the travel undertaken by Mr Benning.

“It has built significant and valuable relationships with the state and federal governments, and it has allowed the corporation to explore opportunities with industry,” they said. 

“Directors have oversight of the chair’s travel expenses, a proportion of which is recoverable from third parties.”

Questions over employee benefits

According to financial statements, MG Corporation has spent almost $5.8 million on employee benefits in the past two financial years, which has doubled in half a decade.

The corporation currently employs fewer than 20 people, according to those familiar with its inner workings.

Ms Baird said she asked directors at last year’s AGM for a breakdown of employee benefits expenses so members could satisfy themselves that money was being spent in the best interests of native title holders.

“That’s quite a lot of money … they said we weren’t entitled to hear that information being broken down and who gets what,” she said.

“The board should be transparent with its people. Nothing should be hidden.”

MG’s directors said Mr Benning’s advocacy had led to more social programs.

“It is these community programs and projects that have not only grown the corporation’s revenue but also the number of employees, and thus employee expenses, over the past few years,” they said.

Cutbacks anger members

Ms Baird said the corporation blindsided members this year when it flagged savings would be sought from funds to help families hold funerals and provide tertiary scholarships to further education.

She said the most recent annual allocation to the corporation’s individual Dawang groups was $3,000 less than expected, or $48,000 across the 16 land areas.

The Gajirrabeng woman said the corporation was going backwards instead of finding new ways to help improve the lives of disadvantaged traditional owners.

“Our one common goal is to be self-sustainable into the future to assist with things like funeral funds and scholarships to go away for education,” she said.

MG’s directors said Dawang distributions changed year to year due to market returns but had grown overall since 2020.

They acknowledged “changes” to some community programs.

“The total level of grants invested in these programs has risen by $284,000 in financial year 2022, and by $2.5 million in FY 2023,” they said.

‘We haven’t seen nothing’

Miriwoong man Izaac Bradshaw and his family live on a reserve known as Garden Area.

He said MG Corporation, in his view, had neglected Indigenous communities on Kununurra’s fringe in recent years, and more infrastructure was needed for children to keep them out of trouble.

Mr Bradshaw said he had spent time in jail as a teenager and he wanted to see young people thrive in his community.

He suggested native title funds could be used to build a basketball court, a shed, and a shaded area to discourage children from wandering into town at night.

“We’ve got all this money. Why isn’t there anything to help the community?” he asked.

“They [children] go into town to school and then they come back, but what are they going to do back here?

In a statement, federal regulator the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) said it was aware of concerns from members.

“We remain committed to supporting all parties to use corporation-preferred processes to resolve internal disagreements and resolve governance arrangements,” ORIC said.