Economic participation and development
Economic participation is a key to encouraging Indigenous Australians to take part in the economic prosperity of recent years. Having a job or running a small business can empower an individual and build their local community.
The government's Indigenous Economic Development Strategy aims to increase levels of Indigenous employment, self-employment and business development and help Indigenous Australians gain and manage assets and participate in the broader economy.
Changes to the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) programme and increased access to a wide range of mainstream services from the expansion of Structured Training and Employment Projects and Job Network are also assisting Indigenous Australians to become economically independent.
Outcomes
- The number of Indigenous people in private sector employment increased from 55,410 in 2001 to 87,376 in 2006.
- In 2006–07, 167 Indigenous businesses projects were supported through the Indigenous Small Business Fund.
- At 30 June 2006, the Indigenous Business Development and Assistance Programme loan portfolio had 446 active loans for assistance to Indigenous businesses.
- In 2006–07, Job Network placed over 50,100 Indigenous job seekers into employment-a 12% increase on the previous financial year.
- In 2006–07, 5,770 Community Development Employment Projects participants were placed into unsubsidised employment.
Key programmes
Community Development Employment Projects
The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) programme provides opportunities for unemployed Indigenous Australians to develop work skills and move into employment wherever possible. Reforms to CDEP over the past two years have provided greater opportunities for Indigenous Australians to gain education, training and work experience.
Expenditure 2006–07: $556.9 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- 30,768 CDEP places utilised across the year within 212 CDEP organisations
- 5,770 participants placed into unsubsidised employment.
Indigenous Employment Policy
Through its Indigenous Employment Policy, the government provides a flexible suite of programmes and initiatives to assist Indigenous Australians into jobs and build demand for Indigenous job seekers with employers and industries.
Structured Training and Employment Projects (STEP) provides flexible financial assistance for projects that offer structured training leading to lasting employment for Indigenous job seekers.
The Structured Training and Employment Projects Employment and Related Services (STEP ERS) panel is a brokerage service that helps employers put in place recruitment strategies to attract Indigenous job seekers by providing a range of activities, including training and mentoring that will lead to sustainable job outcomes.
The Business Development Programme and the Indigenous Small Business Fund (ISBF) assist self-employment by supporting the development of businesses. ISBF provides funding for Indigenous organisations for activities including feasibility studies, business planning, marketing and other facilitative projects.
The Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Project (CLIEP) is a partnership between individual companies and the Australian Government to generate more jobs for Indigenous Australians. Seven new private sector companies across a range of industries and locations joined CLIEP during the year. This brings the total of committed CLIEP signatories to 87.
Improved performance by CDEP providers and Job Network members has made Indigenous Employment Centres (IECs) no longer necessary. As a result, funding ceased for all IECs on 30 June 2007.
Expenditure 2006–07: $108.3 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- 13,700 commencements for Indigenous job seekers
- 167 Indigenous business projects supported through ISBF
- 319 STEP projects approved
- seven new private sector companies across a range of industries and locations joined CLIEP.
Developing an economic base on Indigenous land
The Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) assists Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to acquire and manage Indigenous-held land to provide economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits. The ILC is not Budget funded. Its primary source of funding is the 'realised real return' from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Account.
Through its land acquisition and land management programmes, the ILC requires applicants to define a specific purpose and outcome for acquiring and managing land and set themselves achievable milestones and outcomes.
During 2006–07 a total of 113 Indigenous people were directly employed in ILC owned businesses, representing a 40% increase against 67 Indigenous staff employed in 2005–06. ILC businesses also provided employment and training opportunities for a further 155 Indigenous people through mechanisms such as supported traineeships, as contract employees carrying out work such as mustering, fencing, construction and pruning and through Indigenous prisoner work rehabilitation programmes.
Expenditure 2006–07: $75 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- 13 properties acquired at a total cost of $34.6 million
- 142 land management projects funded to carry out a range of activities including feral animal control, weed eradication, soil and water conservation, environmental land remediation, bushfire prevention work and sites of significance protection at a total cost of $22.5 million
- 14 ILC businesses, some still in their establishment phase, provided paid full-time or seasonal work, traineeships and contract work to 276 Indigenous people.
Home ownership programme
Indigenous Business Australia provides Indigenous Australians the opportunity to apply for a loan to purchase a home in major cities and towns through the IBA Homes home ownership programme.
The programme provides affordable home loans to Indigenous customers who have the capacity to repay a long-term loan but for a variety of reasons have experienced difficulty in obtaining finance from mainstream home loan providers.
Since the home ownership programme's establishment, it has helped many Indigenous families to buy their own home.
Expenditure 2006–07: $117.937 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- 508 new loans, enabling 1,409 Indigenous Australians to own their own homes
- total asset value of home loans portfolio grew to $478.9 million and since 1975, 12,921 families have been assisted by the programme to buy their own homes.
Home Ownership on Indigenous Land Programme
The Home Ownership on Indigenous Land Programme provides a range of housing loan products to eligible Indigenous people to help them buy their own homes on community titled land.
Expenditure 2006–07: $1.092 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- land tenure reforms have been slower than expected, delaying the implementation of the programme in communities.
Business development and assistance
Indigenous Business Australia improves Indigenous economic participation by offering business loans and other business support to Indigenous Australians through IBA Enterprises.
Business loans are provided to acquire, establish and develop commercially viable businesses where Indigenous people are not able to access mainstream finance. The business support is customised for each business case and is provided to clients who may not be supported by mainstream financial institutions. Indigenous Business Australia also provides assistance to evaluate business opportunities and develop an enterprise idea and training in product development, marketing strategies and networking skills.
Expenditure 2006–07: $47.202 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- 1,653 Indigenous Australians interested in starting a business or improving their business skills provided with information and training
- more than 700 clients received business support assistance
- 46 economic development initiatives approved
- 86 new loans worth approximately $21.6 million approved.
Asset building
Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) assists Indigenous groups, families and individuals to participate in commercial enterprises through joint ventures with the private sector and IBA in a range of business sectors. IBA Investments invests in commercially viable businesses that have the potential to generate revenue, acquire capital and provide training and employment opportunities and other social benefits. IBA Investments also provides ongoing business support and mentoring to Indigenous joint venture partners, as well as economic development advice to Indigenous groups, families and individuals.
IBA has investments throughout Australia and across an extensive range of industries including tourism, mining and mine services, commercial property, fisheries, financial services, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and services.
Expenditure 2006–07: $47.270 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- the IBA Investments portfolio provided 957 employment opportunities of which 254 were taken up by Indigenous Australians.
Indigenous call centres
The Department of Human Services, through Centrelink, has three Indigenous call centres located in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia that answer around 250,000 calls annually. These Indigenous call centres provide a culturally appropriate access channel for Indigenous people, particularly those living in remote areas who may not have direct access to other Centrelink facilities. The call centres are primarily staffed by local Indigenous people, improving local labour force participation.
In early 2007 services to Indigenous customers were further enhanced to provide a national service for Indigenous people needing to contact Centrelink from anywhere in Australia.
Indigenous specialist staff
There are now over 100 specialist Indigenous staff supporting Indigenous customers both in Centrelink offices and working with local Indigenous communities to provide greater services.
Indigenous customer support officers deliver a culturally appropriate service through liaison, consultation and customer service adviser duties with Indigenous customers. They also provide specialist assistance to other Centrelink staff. Indigenous service officers (ISOs) liaise and consult with Indigenous customers and community representatives on servicing requirements and develop strategies to manage obligations. ISOs manage the strategies implemented and provide feedback to Centrelink management and staff regarding local service delivery issues.
National Arts and Crafts Industry Support
The National Arts and Crafts Industry Support (NACIS) programme provides direct funding support to Indigenous art centres and arts support organisations. The programme's overall objectives are to assist Indigenous art centres to become stronger and to build a more sustainable Indigenous visual arts industry. Strong art centres play an important role in the maintenance of culture and promotion of economic participation and development in remote communities. They also play a significant role in enhancing the functionality and resilience of these communities.
The success of the NACIS programme is reflected in the continued growth of the Indigenous visual arts industry, the sustained demand for development and seed funding and the strong response of both art centres and their support organisations to the recent parliamentary inquiry into the sector. The programme continues to operate actively in the whole-of-government environment, particularly through contributing to the development and realisation of shared responsibility agreements.
Expenditure 2006–07: $5.6 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- 68 activities funded.
Native Title Programme
The Native Title Programme funds native title representative bodies and native title service providers to provide professional services to Indigenous people pursuing the recognition and protection of native title under the Native Title Act 1993. By assisting Indigenous people with their native title claims, the programme helps to increase the proportion of Indigenous people with access to their traditional lands.
Expenditure 2006–07: $61.03 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- a total of 279 Indigenous land use agreements were registered with the National Native Title Tribunal
- 1,750 native title claims had been lodged
- 103 native title determinations made
- 417 native title activities funded in operational plans
- 29 Indigenous land use agreements lodged
- 42 native title claims lodged
- 16 native title determinations made<
- 12 native title representative bodies funded
- four native title service providers funded.
National Native Title Tribunal
The National Native Title Tribunal's key role is to work with people to resolve native title issues. This work includes the delivery of products and services to:
- assist people to understand their roles and responsibilities in the native title process and to expedite the development of agreements
- apply specialist knowledge, skills and experience to the mediation of native title claims, to mediation and arbitration of land use and development proposals, and to a range of other matters arising from native title processes.
The Tribunal also assists people to understand their roles and responsibilities in the native title process and to expedite the development of agreements. The key outcome is the resolution of native title issues over land and water, including enduring native title and related outcomes that recognise rights and interests over land and waters, in accordance with the Native Title Act 1993.
The recognition of native title may lead to agreements that provide for a range of economic outcomes covering such things as cooperative management of national parks, training and employment. The agreement-making outputs listed below reflect both the progress to resolve and actual resolution, of native title issues. In respect of the resolution of native title determination applications, approximately half were resolved by consent, as opposed to litigation. Clients' perceptions of the quality of the agreement-making process were tested by research in April 2006. The research report provided a number of recommendations to improve agreement-making processes.
The Tribunal anticipates that its programme delivery will integrate into a whole-of-government approach as it responds to the Native Title Amendment Act 2007 and develops initiatives to support and achieve outcomes in the native title system as a whole. The Native Title Amendment Act is in direct response to the Attorney-General's package of six inter-connected measures to improve the performance of the native title system and in particular the independent review of the native title claims resolution process.
Expenditure 2006–07: $32.881 million.
The Tribunal's appropriation funds one programme-the Resolution of Native Title Issues Over Land and Waters. This programme contributes to the Australian Government's Indigenous expenditure.
Outputs 2006–07:
- stakeholder and community relations:
- nine capacity building and strategic/sectoral initiatives
- 632 occasions of assistanceand information
- agreement-making:
- 22 fully concluded Indigenous land use agreement negotiations and 284 milestone agreements
- 17 native title agreements and related agreements that fully resolve native title determination applications and 349 milestone agreements
- 114 future act agreements fully resolved as well as 64 milestone agreements.
- decisions:
- 56 decisions on registration of claimant applications
- 31 decisions on registration of Indigenous land use agreements
- 176 future act determinations
- 884 finalised objections to the expedited procedure.
Advancement of Rights to Land and Sea
The Advancement of Rights to Land and Sea (ARLS) funds activities that provide opportunities for Indigenous people to gain economic and social benefits from land held under Commonwealth land rights legislation. The ARLS sub-programme is delivered in consultation with relevant agencies including the Department of Transport and Regional Services and the Department of the Environment and Water Resources. Measures of performance relate to community governance, and benefits to the community from the management and use of community land and assets.
Expenditure 2006–07: $1.26 million.
Outputs 2006–07:
- progress with land claims under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and grant funding to Aboriginal corporations to assist in the performance of their statutory roles under Commonwealth land rights legislation
- significant amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act developed and passed through both houses of Parliament
- a review of the Aboriginal Land Grant (Jervis Bay Territory) Act 1986.
Native title rights
On 28 August 2006 the Federal Court of Australia recognised the Yankunytjatjara/Antakirinja people's native title rights over about 18,665 square kilometres of mostly pastoral land north of Adelaide. This was South Australia's first determination to be settled with the agreement of all parties. Pastoralists and Indigenous Australians showed how persistence and a negotiating spirit can produce positive results in native title negotiations.
This was the 88th native title determination to be registered by the National Native Title Tribunal. Along with the determination, six Indigenous land use agreements, which deal with specific issues about the use of land over the seven pastoral leases, were also signed.