The head of Western Australia’s northernmost Indigenous community has defended employing her close family members in taxpayer-funded youth worker roles, on top of existing positions.
Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation (KAC) chief executive Madeline Gallagher-Dann addressed the situation in a wide-ranging interview after the ABC raised community concerns and obtained a timesheet showing the status of the workforce in September 2023.
Ms Gallagher-Dann confirmed she had placed her partner, daughter, and her daughter’s partner in Commonwealth-funded youth worker roles last year.
She said the trio also worked in other positions in the corporation, including maintenance and accommodation management, and they received full wages for both jobs.
The community leader said the situation was justified amid a shortage of suitable candidates.
“I can rely on my family … I ask, and I ask, I’m the CEO, but I’m running around like a headless chook doing some of my staff’s jobs,” Ms Gallagher-Dann said.
“Everyone sits back and just wants us to fail.”
She said if residents, who were qualified and committed, wanted to take on the youth worker roles, she would hire them and put her family members back to working one job.
“Because I wouldn’t have to deal with this that’s happening now, being scrutinised and saying, you know, all the nepotism and things like that,” Ms Gallagher-Dann said.
“I don’t have a choice at all. If I don’t have family members or others that I interact with on a daily basis to do these jobs, then they won’t be done, and the job is being done.”
CEO sheds staff
Ms Gallagher-Dann became CEO after a push from leaders to find a well-qualified local Indigenous candidate who could help improve the fortunes of the geographically isolated community in the long term.
The Ngarinyin woman said she discovered shortly after starting in the role in late 2021 that staffing was unwieldy and unsustainable.
“At one stage we had about 60 people on our books and only 17 to 20 were turning up consistently,” Ms Gallagher-Dann said.
“You want to give everyone the opportunity regardless of who they are, family members or not.
“But if they’re not willing to do the job and they don’t turn up then you have to make those rational decisions.”
Social problems plague community
Kalumburu has high rates of domestic violence and unemployment, fuelled by overcrowding and intergenerational trauma.
Ms Gallagher-Dann said feuding and anti-social behaviour was normalised and accepted in Kalumburu.
“Substance abuse, welfare dependency, and unwillingness for change is the core reason why Kalumburu is struggling,” she said.
Despite Kalumburu being a dry community, she said alcohol and drugs were often smuggled in impacting the running of youth programs.
“Activities and programs can’t be run at times because when alcohol and drugs are in the community, people are feuding on the streets and it is unsafe for kids to be out,” Ms Gallagher-Dann said.
“Drugs and gambling take away the money from families, therefore kids too have started to play cards to try and win their own money.”
Locals are ‘more than capable’
Kuini woman and former KAC director Esther Waina has led a group of residents over the past year who are critical of Ms Gallagher-Dann and want to see a change of leadership.
She said there was widespread concern about Ms Gallagher-Dann’s family members working double jobs.
Ms Waina, who was an assistant to the former CEO, said she doubted Ms Gallagher-Dann’s assertion that there was a lack of suitable candidates.
“Kalumburu might be a lot of things, but we have workers. We’ve got people who worked in those positions before she became in charge,” she said.
“I know for a fact there are people in my community who are more than capable of working full-time jobs.”
She did not believe Ms Gallagher-Dann’s assurance to the ABC that she would look to take on suitable candidates in the youth worker role if they emerged.
“We’ve been calling her out for so long. Well, you need to show us,” Ms Waina said.
Corporation grapples with feuding
Ms Waina and Ms Gallagher-Dann are on opposite sides of a bitter and sprawling family feud, which the CEO said had impacted the running of the corporation.
She said staff were suffering mentally due to constant harassment and bullying and had been threatened, abused, and attacked on social media.
Last year KAC applied to the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) for an extension to hold its annual general meeting (AGM), arguing it had been through a “terrible year”.
The Commonwealth regulator refused and asked the corporation to call an AGM immediately and give members 21 days notice.
Ms Gallgher-Dann said KAC had not yet called an AGM.
CEO job in jeopardy
Earlier this month, Ms Gallagher-Dann sent an email to service providers and state and federal agencies detailing ongoing issues with feuding.
She said a group of her critics had held a special meeting in December and elected new directors, putting her employment in jeopardy.
“I still want Kalumburu to succeed and have it all, but unfortunately it might not be my decision,” she wrote in the email.
Ms Waina said she organised the breakaway meeting and was waiting for ORIC to consider the outcome.
A spokesperson for ORIC said it had received a form notifying a change of directors of Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation and was considering whether to update its corporation register.
The Commonwealth National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), which funds the youth worker roles, told the ABC it was monitoring the corporation and community with concern and support, while matters were dealt with by the relevant authorities.
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