Crown among big companies given government funding to employ Aboriginal people

Greens senator Lidia Thorpe accuses the Coalition of using the Indigenous Advancement Strategy as a slush fund' for their big donor mates'

Crown Resorts, the casino giant facing royal commissions in two states over allegations of facilitating money laundering and allowing junkets linked to organised crime to bring in high-rolling gamblers, is among big companies that received millions in federal government funding to employ Aboriginal people.

A $3.6m grant to Crown Resorts is one of several awarded to big corporations from the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS), a $4.9bn fund set up in 2014 to alleviate Indigenous disadvantage.