Turnbull announces $115M package for indigenous business sector

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the Coalition’s plan to fortify the indigenous business sector. If re-elected, the Turnbull government will pledge $115 million Indigenous Entrepreneurs package.

On Friday, the Coalition laid out its plans for the indigenous business community in three key initiatives, namely, the $115 million package, building on partnerships with major employers through Employment Parity Initiative, and building on the outstanding success of Commonwealth Indigenous procurement Policy.

It aims to ensure 3 percent of all government contracts are within indigenous businesses by 2020.

As for the $115 million package, it will include $90 million Indigenous Entrepreneurs Fund to provide grants to new and growing businesses for infrastructure, as well as $1.9 million for strategy to assist indigenous businesses access programs and emerging opportunities and markets.

The Coalition boasted that since July 2015, it has awarded 911 contracts worth $154.1 million to 274 indigenous businesses, a significant amount compared to the $6.2 million in Commonwealth procurement in 2012 to 2013.

“Now, through our plan for the next term, we will ensure that those entrepreneurial and innovative Indigenous Australians who have ideas to start or grow businesses have clear pathways to turn those ideas into viable, sustainable businesses generating employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians,” the statement reads.

“Indigenous economic development is at the heart of our national agenda and plays a critical role in achieving improvements in social outcomes for Indigenous Australians. Building the capacity of our Indigenous business sector makes not only good economic sense for our nation and Indigenous Australians, it puts us on a path to meet a key Closing the Gap target.”

The Closing the Gap strategy is the government’s commitment to reduce indigenous health disadvantage in Australia. Introduced in 2008, it aims to achieve indigenous health equality within 25 years.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten countered the Coalition’s plan by announcing the Labor government, if elected, would spend $200 million over the next five years to double the number of indigenous people employed as rangers in Australia.