One of the curious things about journalism is that sometimes the part of a story you think is least remarkable turns out to be what readers notice most.

That’s exactly what happened last week when we reported on the Department of Communities and Justice moving into a new Ballina office, marked with a Bundjalung Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony.

It was a short video from the event — filmed in the carpark — that suddenly had readers talking.

If you work in public life, these sorts of ceremonies are now fairly common. For the average person, however, they remain a curiosity.

And, it must be said, the setting for this one — held in a carpark outside the building — did make the scene look a little weird.

Given the strong interest, we posted more photos of the smoking ceremony on Saturday to give readers a clearer picture of how the event unfolded.

In that post I also mentioned that ceremonies like these can sometimes cost up to $5000. That line upset a few readers who suggested it was racist.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting the Ballina ceremony cost that much. I don’t know what it cost.

But the overwhelming question readers were asking me was simple: what do these ceremonies usually cost?

The reason I knew how much is because I helped arrange one in Ballina two years ago for a government agency.

A friend working for the organisation was bringing a team to the Northern Rivers for a conference and told me they needed to organise a Welcome to Country.

He was struggling to find someone locally and said his calls to a local Indigenous organisation had not been returned.

I asked what sort of budget they had for the ceremony.

He told me it was somewhere between $1000 and $5000, depending on the arrangements. That figure was for a Welcome to Country alone, not a smoking ceremony.

I suggested he call the organisation again and leave another message explaining that was the available budget.

Shortly after that, he received a call back and the ceremony was locked in.

More broadly, there has been increasing scrutiny of how much governments are spending on these ceremonies.

Freedom of Information documents obtained by federal opposition recently showed Commonwealth government agencies alone spent $452,953 on Welcome to Country ceremonies over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet spent $41,801 on 33 ceremonies.

At an average cost of about $1,266 per event, and with many ceremonies lasting only five to fifteen minutes, critics say it raises reasonable questions about value for money.

Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of these ceremonies as a regular feature of public events.

They often introduce a sombre tone at the very start of a function, when organisers are usually trying to energise the room.

​​They can also create another awkward dynamic. By singling out one particular group for recognition at the start of an event, they can overlook the fact that many rooms are filled with community elders and leaders from a wide range of backgrounds. 

At almost any public gathering you will find people who have given decades of service to their community — leaders, mentors and volunteers of every race and colour. One could argue that those kinds of contributions deserve upfront recognition as well.

For many Australians they also feel tied to a broader narrative of guilt and shame about the country’s colonial past. That reflection has its place, but some argue it has become overused in everyday civic settings.

It’s also worth noting that government agencies such as Justice and Communities have significant responsibilities in supporting disadvantaged Indigenous communities.

In that context, gestures of cultural respect may well serve a purpose in building trust and engagement.

So there are clearly settings, like the one in Ballina last week,  where these ceremonies make sense.

But the overwhelming reaction from readers to last week’s office opening was that the event looked, frankly, a little ridiculous.

Prominent Indigenous senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has argued that Australia needs to move beyond what she describes as a long period focused on national guilt and apology.

Every nation has difficult chapters in its history. Acknowledging them matters. But many people also believe that constantly dwelling on the past is not the healthiest way for a country — or its citizens — to move forward.