In 2020, when Peter George Remfrey's Queensland-based workforce company Pandanus Group announced a new partnership, he was introduced as "a proud Tiwi man of non-Indigenous descent".
A Facebook birthday post that year repeated the description. His connection to the Tiwi Islands was acknowledged, but not as ancestry. It is believed Remfrey spent time on the Tiwi Islands as a child, but specific details are unclear.
By early 2024, the language had changed. In LinkedIn posts he identified simply as Tiwi.
"I am a Tiwi Man," he wrote. "I self-identify as a Tiwi man. I am accepted by my community — the Jikilaruwu Clan of Wurrumiyanga."
On social media, he posted a photo of himself swimming in a waterfall on Bathurst Island, captioned: "As I sat and talked to my ancestors in this sacred space, the journey became even clearer."
Then came the letters, obtained by The Indigenous Business Review.
The first, dated February 5, 2024, appeared on Mumpara Group Holdings letterhead, another of Remfrey's businesses. It stated that "P. Tumarripi Babui-Remfrey is of Aboriginal descent (Tiwi Islands)" and said he was applying for confirmation of Aboriginality from the Tiwi Land Council.
The letter said he self-identified as Aboriginal and that he had been accepted by the Jikilaruwu clan. It was signed by eight Babui family members, including Elder Francisco Babui.
A second letter followed on April 16, 2024. Also on Mumpara stationery, it repeated the claim of Aboriginal descent and was signed by five Jikilaruwu figures: Tiwi Land Council trustee Simon Peter Munkara, Valentine Puautjimi, Agnella Tipungwuti, John Benson Kelantumama and Andrea Puautjimi.
For Remfrey, the letters became a defence. In a LinkedIn post he wrote:
"Recently, there has been commentary and speculation regarding my cultural identity and intent. The attached letters — signed by my Traditional Owners and family elders — are not about business ownership, strategic advantage, or financial gain. They are about identity. I am a Tiwi man. I was raised in Wurrumiyanga, I speak Tiwi and I live according to our LORE. My identity isn't something I acquired through business or convenience — it is who I have always been. These documents simply confirm what my life has always reflected."
The Tiwi Land Council says it has never issued Remfrey a Certificate of Aboriginality. It says Aboriginal descent must be proven with genealogical evidence, verified by anthropologists and confirmed by the council.
While family or clan letters may support a claim, they are not proof. Being raised in community or being regarded as "family" does not qualify a person for recognition.
The presence of Munkara's name on the April letter drew attention. Munkara is a Jikilaruwu Elder who led Federal Court action to stop Santos' $5.8billion Barossa gas pipeline, saying the project threatened sacred underwater songlines and Tiwi sea country.
In January 2024, Justice Natalie Charlesworth dismissed the case. She found the cultural mapping evidence was "so lacking in integrity that no weight can be placed on them" and that the claims were not "broadly accepted among Tiwi Islanders".
Munkara's signature underlines the tension in Remfrey's story: the gap between endorsements from community figures and the land council's processes.
ASIC records show Mumpara Industries Pty Ltd, trading as Mumpara Workforce, is wholly owned by Mumpara Group Holdings. Until August 2025, the holding company had two shareholders. On August 13, Remfrey purchased his Indigenous business partner's 100 shares, leaving him sole shareholder. ASIC records confirm he was born in 1976 in Subiaco, Western Australia.
That share purchase had consequences. After The Indigenous Business Review made enquiries, Supply Nation reviewed ASIC records and determined Mumpara Industries no longer met the requirement of at least 50 per cent Indigenous ownership, indicating that Supply Nation had not been provided with accepted proof of Aboriginality by Remfrey - otherwise he would have retained status as a Registered Aboriginal business owner. The company was removed from Indigenous Business Direct, the national database of Indigenous suppliers.
Peak body, the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network, does not list Mumpara Workforce among its members and it confirmed it has declined multiple membership requests from Remfrey.
Mumpara says it is a workforce provider aiming to break the cycle of intergenerational welfare dependence. It says it designs Indigenous workforce development strategies, supports employers from tender through delivery and compliance and provides recruitment, labour hire and training.
Remfrey has positioned himself publicly as a defender of integrity in Indigenous business.
In a LinkedIn post titled Black Cladding & The Reverse Perspective, he called Black cladding "insidious — undermining Aboriginal culture, business integrity, and the very purpose of Indigenous enterprise". He posed three tests: "Who is truly making the decisions? Who is being empowered? Is this leaving Aboriginal people stronger for the future?"
The story that emerges is one of shifting claims and contested identity. The Tiwi Land Council's position is clear: Aboriginal descent must be demonstrated with evidence and confirmed through its formal process. Remfrey himself once acknowledged he was of non-Indigenous descent. The letters he later organised cannot override that history or substitute for proof of ancestry. Only evidence can settle such a claim, and by that standard, Remfrey's assertions remain unproven.
According to Remfrey: "Aboriginality is a bit like tea. You can add milk and sugar, but it's still tea."
He did not respond to questions from The Indigenous Business Review about his identity claims.
