Senate Probes Surge in Multicultural Grants From $6 Million to $325 Million

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Oct. 8, 2025. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images

One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson has accused the Albanese government of turning multicultural grants into a “slush fund” for Labor seats, after officials confirmed spending had risen from about $6 million to $325 million in three years.

During questioning of the Department of Home Affairs, Hanson said multicultural grants totalled about $325 million in 2025/26.

Sneha Chatterjee, from the department’s Office for Multicultural Affairs, said that was “likely right,” during the Senate Estimates hearing on Oct. 27.

Hanson there had been a 5,400 percent increase in the volume of grants from the $5.9 million of grants in 2022/23, Labor’s first year in office.

But Chatterjee said last year’s total included about $171 million in Labor election commitments, which were not part of the earlier figure, as well as large grants to organisations targeted in anti-Semitic attacks, including $30 million for the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, which was firebombed in December 2024.

Officials later put the 2022/23 figure at $6.3 million.

Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster stressed that figure covered only regular grant programmes, while last year’s total included election commitments.

Chatterjee said commitments made at the 2022 election were paid out in the following financial year.

Hanson said 87 percent of the grants had been awarded without open competition, and asked whether the Department had warned the government that this carried a risk of corruption.

Clare Sharp, the department’s head of immigration, said Home Affairs did not give advice on whether an election commitment was a good idea. Instead, it checked that each organisation named by the government met the grant rules and could do the work.

Hanson asked whether Labor’s party headquarters had been involved in choosing who received the money.

Foster said the department had received no correspondence from the party, while Minister Murray Watt said he had no knowledge of the matter and took the question on notice.

Hanson Claims Most Grants Went to Labor-Held Seats

Hanson then claimed 94 percent of last year’s grants went to Labor-held seats, including $45 million to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s multicultural western Sydney electorate.

“This is taxpayer money being used as a slush fund for Labor Party seats,” she said.

Foster said the Department did not record grant spending by electorate, while Minister Watt said he had not seen Hanson’s figures, but agreed to take the Burke figure on notice.

“I don’t think it would be a very big surprise if a reasonable number of multicultural grants went to a very multicultural electorate like Minister Burke’s,” he said.

When Hanson argued the grants were divisive and should be open to all Australians, Watt replied, “I happen to think that multicultural Australians are Australians.”

Earlier, Hanson questioned whether taxpayers should fund programs that help migrants with maintaining and learning their own language.

Watt said the government funded community language schools because Australians who speak other languages help with social cohesion and with trade.

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