Members of Broken Hill's Aboriginal community have criticised a decision by its local council to stop paying them for undertaking Welcome to Country ceremonies.
The conflict arose during Broken Hill City Council's (BHCC) May meeting where it voted to change its Civic and Ceremonial Functions and Representation Policy.
While most of the amendments were minor, one of them surrounded Welcome to Country services at official events.
Under the revision, Broken Hill's traditional owners, the Wilyakali people, would still be invited to perform the ceremony, but at no financial cost to the council.
For Wilyakali woman Taunoa Bugmy, who has been performing the ceremony for more than 15 years at various events, it was a shock — especially during Reconciliation Week.
"I'm heartbroken, I'm spiritually disrupted, I feel detached a little bit from my community, I feel outcasted," Ms Bugmy said.
"A lot of my elders and family feel the exact same way and overall we're disappointed."
Ms Bugmy said while they appreciated the opportunity to perform the ceremony at official council events, it also represented an acknowledgement to the Wilyakali people, who were displaced from their traditional land in Broken Hill's early days as various mining operations were established.
Unaware it was paid for
Despite the criticism, BHCC Mayor Tom Kennedy said until recently he and many councillors were unaware the service was paid for.
"For me, a welcome has to be given for it to be truly a welcome, as opposed to a paid statement," he said.
"If you're paying for something, you're paying for a statement."
But Ms Bugmy said the idea of paying for a Welcome to Country had been around for as long as she could remember, if not longer.
She said youths performing in language were paid a flat rate of $150, more senior representatives like her received $250, while an official smoking ceremony cost $300.
Ms Bugmy said it was important to note that those rates were several hundred — even thousands of dollars — lower than rates in larger cities like Sydney.
"This is our cultural competence that we're sharing with community and the country, so this is something that we should be paid for," she said.
"I work and so do most of my family members who do the Welcome to Country, so you're taking away time from them as full-time workers."
Councillors vote against change
The amendment was voted against by councillors Marion Browne and Darriea Turley.
Cr Browne said she was disappointed the council elected not to put the revised policy out for public consultation.
"Most meetings the council passes either a revised policy or adopts one that's been on public display … 99 times out of 100 there are no comments," she said.
"For some reason they decided not even to allow for the possibility of comment.
"To machine it through seems a bit odd … I just don't think it was the right thing to do."
But Cr Kennedy said there was no need for consultation on budgetary processes that were left to the discretion of councillors.
"It's not [like we're] removing the Welcome to Country. It's removing a fee for service that most councillors didn't even know existed," he said.
"I speak to a lot of Aboriginal people as well and I can tell you, there's many out there that would do a Welcome to Country for free and don't believe it should be charged out."
In a written statement on Friday, the Broken Hill Aboriginal Community Working Party (CWP) said members were "shocked and offended" by the decision.
The CWP is now calling on the council to immediately withdraw its decision and meet members and traditional custodians to discuss how to put reconciliation back on track for the community.
