Gomeroi victims of 'predatory' Youpla funeral firm call for payout from government after collapse of Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund

Instead, the Tamworth man paid for the gravestone out of his own savings and borrowings and dug the grave himself.

"It's not free to come into the world and it's not free to go out. It cost us $15,000 to bury our daughter two years ago," he said.

The collapse of the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund he was a member of in early 2022, left hundreds of Tamworth Aboriginal people like him without a guarantee of a decent funeral. Tragically, at least one paid-up local, who died after the fund went into liquidation, wasn't able to be buried for months as a result.

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The North West region was among the most hard-hit by the financial failure.

But all 17,000 victims of the funeral insurance firm - which has been described as 'predatory' by many former policy holders - will now be guaranteed a decent funeral after the federal government announced, on Monday, that it would step in.

Many Aboriginal people in the region want the government to go even further. They have demanded consequences for a company they've accused of deliberately targeting the community and taking far more from policyholders than they'd ever pay back.

For years, Gomeroi grandmother Beatrice Waters-Griffiths spent about $32,000 on funeral insurance for her large family.

"We all thought we were doing the right thing by covering our loved ones, to make sure that if anything [happened] they would be covered for the funeral," she said.

With the government's commitment, she now has a form of funeral insurance coverage.

But she believes the government ought to undertake to pay policyholders back every dollar.

"I think everybody should be compensated as soon as possible," she said.

"There are too many deaths that are happening recently ... I think it's just been unjust.

"They've had plenty of time, they've had years, especially when they've had the royal commission."

Like many policyholders, she was approached at the pub - others were doorknocked at home by a representative of the firm, which many believed to be Aboriginal-run.

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Some have accused the company of deliberately targeting the community due to the likelihood they would fall on hard times, voiding their policies.

But federal regulators permitted the company to continue operating, and the Commonwealth permitted Centrelink and pension funds to be paid in; a form of endorsement, the community has claimed.

A cousin of Mrs Waters-Griffiths from Toomelah, was left in the morgue for two months despite coverage, after the collapse of the fund, she said. Another acquaintance had to take money out of his superannuation to pay for a funeral for his wife.

"I signed my husband and my three children up and then, as we were having grandchildren, I signed each and every one of them ... six grandchildren," Mrs Waters-Griffiths said.

"We were all paid up until March this year."

Nation-wide, about $300 million was paid out to the company.

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Mr Craigie said the failure of the fund was ultimately the government's fault, so helping the victims is its responsibility.

Victims of banking misbehaviour were paid out by the government after its royal commission, he said, and Aboriginal people should be treated the same.

"We lost our money to these rogue traders. Give us our money back!" he said.

Mr Craigie had pulled out of the Aboriginal insurance firm, Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, years before the death of his daughter Elizabeth-Faye Craigie.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney announced on Monday that any person who held a policy with ACBF as of 1 April 2020, will receive a payout for funeral expenses equal to the one they would have received from the company

The government will spend $4 million and cover 500 funerals, over 18 months.

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