Top 20 under 40: Leah Cameron, 36, from Marrawah Law

When Leah Cameron started Marrawah Law at her kitchen table in 2013, she never could have imagined six years later she would be at the frontline of the $30 billion indigenous economy.

Firebrand Aboriginal lawyer Leah Cameron speaks to the heart of the $30 billion spent every year in the nation’s indigenous space.

The Cairns-based law firm founder, 36, a leader in native title land law and a Palawa/Trawlwoolway woman from Lutrawita (Tasmania), is on the frontline of a boom in the indigenous-owned economy.

“It’s Australia’s commercial success story of the decade,’’ the mother-of-two, says.

“It was near non-existent a year ago. Now we’re proving ourselves.’’

Indigenous lawyer Leah Cameron at her home in Edge Hill, Cairns. Picture: Stewart McLean

When she started Marrawah Law on her Cairns kitchen table, in 2013, just $6.2 million of Commonwealth Government contracts went to only 30 indigenous firms.

“Fast forward to 2019 and it has now awarded more than $2 billion of work to indigenous business owners. Everything from travel agencies, cryogenics, and cosmetics to IT, my indigenous business owner clients are into it. They are my inspiration day in and day out,’’ she says.

From July 1, 2019, it was mandated three per cent of federal government work go to indigenous businesses in 19 different sectors such as healthcare, insurance, and environmental services.

“It’s helping blackfellas make decisions not just about their own lives,’’ the Queensland Law Society’s First Nations Lawyer of the Year 2018 says. “But for generations to come.’’

Cameron heads to the Dream Summit in Sydney as a mentor and judge in the awards for Australia’s emerging indigenous entrepreneurs from September 12 to 13.