A new report shows 20% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the workforce are employed at Indigenous-owned businesses.
These businesses make up 1% of all Australian companies.
The report was developed by the University of Melbourne’s Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, the Melbourne Institute, and the University of Queensland.
It also looked at the impact of Government policies on First Nations businesses.
Findings
The report used data from a range of sources, including the 2021 Census.
Researchers found that in 2021/22, one in five First Nations workers were employed in what they called “the Indigenous business and corporations ecosystem”.
At this time, Indigenous-owned businesses accounted for less than 1% of all businesses in Australia, but employed 46,718 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
The report shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 12 times more likely to be hired by an Indigenous business than a non-Indigenous one.
One in three employees at First Nations businesses is Indigenous, compared in one in 36 in non-Indigenous-owned workplaces.
The two biggest industries in the ecosystem were healthcare and social assistance (23%), and administrative services (14%), while 65% of all jobs in the ecosystem were performed in rural and remote areas.
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IPP
Researchers also analysed the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), which launched in 2015. It sets targets for the number of contracts the Federal Government must award to Indigenous-owned businesses.
Since it began, the average number of contracts won by Indigenous businesses has grown significantly.
Researchers estimated 82% of IPP recipients were being awarded their first Government contract.
Report author Professor Cain Polidano said many businesses awarded IPP contracts went on to receive other, larger contracts.
Polidano said: “The experience gained... may lead to an increase in contracts won through open tender process.”
Comments
Dilin Duwa director Michelle Evans said the Indigenous business ecosystem “isn’t some niche group”.
Evans said: “It employs more Australians than the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac combined.”
The snapshot provides case studies of businesses in the ecosystem, including construction company Intract Australia, which is 51% Indigenous-owned.
Intract owner John Briggs said: “I try to put people on their country... because I know how much they get out of it."
