$4 million Reconnected with First Nations Communities Across Queensland

First Nations Foundation's Financial Wellness Outreach program has helped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across regional and remote Queensland reconnect with more than $4.15 million in lost and unclaimed superannuation, according to fresh data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Between July and November 2025-26, our Financial Wellness Outreach team completed five outreach runs across 12 Queensland communities.

Led by FNF Project Manager Eddie Buli, the team travelled from Mackay in the south to Napranum and Weipa in the north. Stops included Sarina, Palm Island, Charters Towers, Mapoon, Croydon, Normanton, Hope Vale, Wujal Wujal and Cooktown.

For many people we met, the money was there all along. What stood in the way were structural barriers: internet access, and identity verification requirements that are hard to meet when documents are missing or out of date.

Our outreach is designed to remove those barriers. In each community, our team sat down with people, face to face, to:

• Find unclaimed or unknown super accounts.
• Work through identity verification issues.
• Set up and navigate myGov and ATO online services.

The key to the program's success is largely attributed to having access to support across multiple providers in the one place. Each visit brings the superannuation sector, banks, utility providers, ombudsmen and government agencies together, alongside ATO representatives and FNF staff. Community members can get answers and take action in the same visit, in their own community.

FNF's CEO Leah Bennett, said the outcome shows that while superannuation is compulsory, access to it is not.

"A modest investment in logistics and partnership can translate into life-changing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," Ms Bennett said.

And that "For a small not-for-profit to travel to 12 communities across five regions in Queensland in four months and achieve this result should prompt reflection across the financial services sector."

Since 2016, First Nations Foundation has helped reconnect First Nations people with more than $30 million in superannuation. This Queensland result shows what is possible when services are brought to communities rather than the other way around.