Successful Aboriginal economic developments

Being an Aboriginal person in business, there's nothing more involving and proud to be able to do [than] the thing you love and turn it into a business. —Josh Whiteland, operator of Koomal Dreaming [2]

"With employment, Aboriginal [businesses] recruit, retain and train more Aboriginal people than any other business group or sector in the country," observes Tony Wiltshire, general manager of the Pilbara Aboriginal Contractors Association (PACA) [3].

"Aboriginal businesses are the best recruiter and trainers of Aboriginal people because they understand the cultural requirements and obligations and conditions and circumstances of Aboriginal people in the Pilbara far better than any of these [non-Indigenous] resources companies operating in the Pilbara."

If Aboriginal businesses were able to get a fair share of resource contracts in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in the next 20 years, it would dramatically improve the social and economic fabric of every Aboriginal person in the region [3].

The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations has prepared a Top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations report (PDF, 2.2MB) which collates and compares a range of data provided by corporations as part of their annual reporting.

It contains many more statistics in addition to the ones cited above.

Many Aboriginal businesses have only formed in the early 2000s. Positive stories about Aboriginal economic success rarely make it into mainstream media. Here are some of them.

Mainstream Australia looks at you and wonders why you are successful. —Tess Atie, owner NT Indigenous Tours [4]

Success stories

Aboriginal corporation purchases Ayers Rock Resort

15 years after Uluru was handed back to its traditional owners the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) announced on 15 October 2010 that it had purchased the Ayers Rock Resort and all associated infrastructure for A$300 million [9].

The deal is a big step towards Aboriginal self-determination in Central Australia. Through a local organisation, the Anangu tribe will acquire a stake in the enterprise and play a "continuing role" in resort operation and management.

The ILC plans to establish a national Indigenous tourism training academy at Yulara. The acquisition will also lead to the return of 104,000 hectares of culturally significant freehold land to Anangu traditional owners.

We have watched the resort be built and grow over the last 30 years, but Anangu were always outside. WE hoped that the resort would provide training and jobs for us, but that's never really happened. —Margaret Smith, Chairperson, Wana Ungkunytja [9]

The resort will be a place we are proud of—somewhere where visitors can come and learn about Anangu and our country. —Margaret Smith [9]

Tour operator

Tess Atie is the owner-operator of NT Indigenous Tours. Two years after starting her own business she now understands the business world and attends meetings and networking functions. [4]

Tess received support from Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) which helped her write a business plan and gain accreditation to operate out of Kakadu National Park. She took out a loan to finance her tour vehicle, contrary to some people's belief that she received it from the government.

Imparja Television

Imparja Television is an Aboriginal-owned broadcasting station in Alice Springs, NT, operating since June 1988. Its services include National Indigenous Television (NITV) which was launched in mid-2007, and eight Aboriginal radio stations [11].

Nine Imparja has the largest broadcast area in Australia, covering 3.6 million square kilometres across six states and territories with an estimated audience of 430,000 people. It comes free-to-air and competes with the national market for advertising revenue.

Indigenous Business Australia (IBA)

Indigenous Business Australia is a government agency which

• assists and enhances Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-management and economic self-sufficiency and
• advances the commercial and economic interests of Indigenous people by accumulating and using capital assets.

One of the tasks of IBA is to help Aboriginal people achieve home ownership. In 2001 Indigenous home ownership was at 32% while the national non-Indigenous average was 68% [10]. IBA wants to raise this rate to 40%. In 2008 its customers come from NSW (29%), QLD (27%), NT (16%), VIC (10%) and WA (8%).

Indigenous Business Australia

Store remake saves 600km round-trip

People from the Jilkminggan community in the Northern Territory who wanted to buy good food for their families had to travel 300km to Katherine and back because their store's stock was mostly unusable and very expensive [5].

The local Dungalan Aboriginal Association decided to improve the situation. Together with Outback Stores and the Federal Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) the community store was overhauled and re-opened, meeting all safety and health requirements.

The new store now has a good chance of making a strong return for the community and delivering better health outcomes for the people.

Jilkminggan is just one of those success stories where you see absolute co-operation with the community, the government and Outback Stores.—John Kop, CEO Outback Stores [5]

The above story is not unique. "Aboriginal people want real jobs," says Alison Anderson, a Northern Territory politician and Independent Aboriginal MP [7]. "They want to be trained as plumbers, as carpenters, instead of bringing in people from the outside to take all the money."

Many Aboriginal people have "up to six or seven certificates" from training but still cannot get a "real job" Anderson observes.

Rare Aboriginal business advertisement

Advertisements for Aboriginal businesses which fly the Aboriginal flag are still a rarity. More and more Aboriginal people are able to get a better education, despite a huge lack of government support in that area.

Adverts like this debunk the myth of the 'lazy Aboriginal' and are testimony to a new class of business people of Indigenous descent.

Resources

Inguides is an Aboriginal-owned and run service that lists Indigenous organisations and businesses for various categories, for example health, education, tourism, media and communications. www.inguides.com.au

Indigenous Community Volunteers

Getting Down to Business is a film shown to raise funds for the Indigenous Communities Volunteers Foundation (ICV). The ICV works in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to design and implement community development projects.

If a person fits well into a community and the community accepts them, then whatever the task is will be effective. —Ron Day, Chairman, Murray Island Council (Torres Strait) [8]

[1] 'Top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander' report, 12/2010 p.2 [2] 'Tourism businesses face some barriers', Koori Mail 511 p.36 [3] 'Report calls for a fair go', Koori Mail 472 p.34 [4] 'Smooth operator', Koori Mail 512 p.21 [5] 'Better times in store', Koori Mail 441 p.19 [6] 'Carey Mining takes out inaugural business award', Koori Mail 489 p.35 [7] 'NT MP warns over new Alice funding', Koori Mail 497 p.11 [8] 'Getting Down to Business', documentary, Kim Reddin, 2/2010 [9] 'Rock solid deal', Koori Mail 487 p.1+6 [10] 'Homing in on an untold story', NIT 10/7/2008 p.24 [11] 'Imparja's new Alice studios officially open', Koori Mail 427 p.50