Indigenous bid for community economic plan

An economic plan being drawn up by Labor would see Indigenous organisations in remote communities become builders and aged-care providers.

Lead Convenor of the Coalition of Peaks Pat Turner, CEO of the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council Scott Wilson and Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy

Indigenous organisations in remote communities could become builders, childcare operators and aged-care providers under an economic development plan being drafted to reduce reliance on outside contractors.

The Coalition of Peaks, the national alliance of Indigenous service providers, is working with the Albanese government and state and territory governments on an Indigenous economic development partnership that could sharply diminish the role of non-Indigenous businesses and multinational not-for-profits from remote communities.

The Coalition of Peaks consultations on Indigenous economic development have brought out frustrations, including that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people feel “locked out” of the economies in their own communities.

The economic development plan is intended to guide governments at all levels to meet employment targets in the Closing the Gap agreement. The proportion of Indigenous adults with jobs is improving and on track to meet the target – 62 per cent – by 2031. The proportion of Indigenous youth in training or jobs is climbing, but too slowly to reach the target of 67 per cent by 2031.

However, the consultations heard some training appeared to have no practical purpose.

“(I’ve) never met so many people qualified to drive forklifts in communities with no forklifts,” one person said, according to a written summary of the workshops due to be published by the Coalition of Peaks on Friday.

The role of community-controlled Indigenous organisations is accepted as key to the success of the Closing the Gap agreement because those organisations have strong connections to the places where they operate and are run by a board of community members.

In successive Closing the Gap reports, community-controlled organisations are singled out for good results. For example, the percentage of Indigenous babies born a healthy birthweight is falling in Australia but it is climbing in Birthing on Country programs run by community-controlled Indigenous organisations.

However, it is acknowledged the organisations need support before they can compete with established service providers.

The Coalition of Peaks report on what Indigenous people said about economic development in their communities shows that many saw opportunities. “There are opportunities to build the Aboriginal community-controlled sector and support more jobs and the economy in these places through leveraging government programs,” the report says.

Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said helping community-controlled Indigenous organisations to grow was an important reform that all governments agreed to when they signed the Closing the Gap agreement in 2020.

“We know that Aboriginal community-controlled organisations can achieve better outcomes for First Nations people, employ more First Nations people and do tremendously positive work across Australia,” she said.

“We only have to look at the evidence during the Covid-19 pandemic to see how Aboriginal health organisations, co-ordinating with each other and state, territory and federal governments, moved swiftly to prevent … the devastating effect we saw overseas for Indigenous peoples.

“We are building on what we learned from the pandemic experience and applying it across all Closing the Gap areas including justice, education, housing and caring for our children.“

Coalition of Peaks lead convener Pat Turner found in the consultations that Indigenous people hoped for more than good jobs. They wanted lasting economic opportunities in their communities. “The message was clear: the current economic system does not work for us. It is disconnected, culturally unsafe, not based on what works for our people, underfunded, and failing to unlock the full economic potential of our people and communities,” Ms Turner said.