Call for Forensic Audit as Former Indigenous Leader Geoff Clark Jailed for Six Years Over $1m Theft
Perth Now
Geoff Clark, once one of Australia’s most prominent Indigenous leaders, has been sentenced to six years and two months in jail after embezzling nearly $1 million from Aboriginal community organisations he once headed. The convictions have sparked renewed calls for a comprehensive forensic audit of Aboriginal land councils and grants to ensure accountability and transparency.
Clark, 72, the former national chair of the defunct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, appeared calm as County Court Judge Michael O’Connell handed down the sentence on Friday. Clark will serve a minimum of three years and nine months before being eligible for parole. He attended the sentencing via video link from prison, where he has been held since September when his bail was revoked.
“You stole on multiple occasions in a variety of ways to personally benefit and strengthen your power in the community,” Justice O’Connell said, describing Clark’s actions as “morally reprehensible” and a betrayal of the trust placed in him.
Over the course of 17 years, Clark misappropriated over $922,000 through a series of fraudulent activities targeting Kirrae Whurrong Community Inc, Maar Land Council, Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, and the estate of Robert Clarke, a Framlingham elder. A portion of these funds—more than $400,000—was used to cover Clark’s personal legal fees related to historical rape allegations, an unfair dismissal case, and a 2002 police obstruction charge at Warrnambool’s Criterion Hotel.
Further investigations revealed Clark had:
- Directed community organisations to pay $56,000 for expenses on his personal properties.
- Pocketed nearly $15,000 in rent intended for Kirrae Whurrong Community Inc.
- Accepted unlawful payments from eel fishermen.
- Undervalued shares from Framlingham Aboriginal Trust by at least $47,000 for personal gain.
Clark was convicted on 25 charges, including 17 counts of theft, financial deception, perjury, and knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime. The convictions, reached across three secret trials between December 2023 and May 2024, were suppressed until September.
The case has reignited concerns about governance within Aboriginal organisations. Advocates argue Clark’s crimes highlight the urgent need for a nationwide forensic audit of Aboriginal land councils and grant programs to uncover potential misuse of funds and restore community trust. Critics assert that a lack of oversight has allowed systemic exploitation to go unchecked for too long.
“The theft of resources meant to uplift Indigenous communities is devastating,” said an advocacy spokesperson. “We need stringent audits and reform to prevent such abuses from happening again.”
Jeremy Clark, 51, Geoff Clark’s son, received a suspended two-year sentence after being found complicit in the theft of over $231,000 to cover his father’s legal fees. Jeremy also pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a $10,780 federal grant.
Justice O’Connell acknowledged Geoff Clark’s past contributions as a national advocate for Indigenous rights but emphasized the gravity of his offenses. “The balance of what you have stolen was money your community sorely needed,” he said. “There is no evidence of remorse.”
While Clark’s advanced age and health factored into his sentencing, community leaders are demanding not just punitive measures but systemic change. The push for forensic audits of Aboriginal councils and grants underscores the need for greater transparency in managing resources meant to benefit Indigenous Australians.
The entire farce of the ABORIGINAL INDUSTRY requires a full-blown ROYAL COMMISSION. Lifting every rock from Rottness Island to Melville Island, Gold Coast, Canberra to Tasmania.
This one miserable Aboriginal descent Australia is just the start, HE CANNOT BE MADE VA SCAP GOAL .
My estimate of the degree of participation in this planned, arranged and carried out THEFT across the breadth of our great land, would be in the hundreds of thousands of people from both sides of the color spectrum, that is BLACK and WHITE.
Hand in hand with this mass theft, these people (traitors to Australia) have created a broken, destructive collapse of THE INTEGRITY of our SOVEREIGNTY.
There is now no Sovereignty, as less than 2.5% of our POPULATIION has control over 84% (at this point in time) of Australia.
The other 97.5% of ALL OTHER AUSTRALIANS, have little to show for our settler forefathers, 16% and shrinking as we mossy on.
UKRAINE is fighting for their SOVEREIGNTY; we are standing back encouraging and accepting being “WELCOMED TO OUR OWN COUNTRY”
To suggest Australians of today have a right to think they are entitled to stand in the same PADDOCK of our settler / farmer / nation building forefathers — WELL THEY ARE NOT.
Without a shadow of doubt, we are piss weak. pathetic and pretty well cowards in our complete capitulation to our ungrateful, Black fellow citizens, who make a game of creating, hatred, criminal acts of fear and disharmony throughout Australia forever, basically not happy unless they are hurting someone.
On top of this, for reason that have got me stuffed, our governments insist on lavishing them with platitudes, well above their characters and spoken of and held in such high regard that it is grotesque and sickening.
Tides turn every day, so it is only a matter of time. when whatever few real men we have left, WANT TO REALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Well spoken Peter. While I agree entirely, I doubt any Government will have the balls to instigate such a review. What ever happened to “We are one and free”?
Yes , forensic search of all aboriginal accounts is definitely needed . People have been saying that for decades.