(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Since the 1990s, two organisations have been among the major drivers of economic participation by Indigenous Australians.
But with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders still lagging behind non-Indigenous Australians on most economic indicators, the new federal Indigenous Affairs Minister says it's time to review their structures and roles.
The organisations to be reviewed are the Indigenous Land Corporation and Indigenous Business Australia.
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Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion says the review will be independent, and will make recommendations on how the two principal land and economic development statutory bodies can be improved.
"I'm a supporter of both organisations. I think they've worked quite well over the years and I think it's been an evolving process. You get to a particular point, it's a bit like the land councils. I can remember the land councils, all they did was get land because that's what they needed to do and their structures were set up to do that and appropriately so. Now they're moving towards, 'Now how can we help *hatch the eggs of the land movement?' and I think this is a similar sort of time. We just need to make sure all our tools are sharpened and it's reasonable to do a regular review to ensure that's the case."
According to their websites, the ILC was established in 1995 with the purpose of assisting Indigenous Australians to acquire and manage land so they can achieve economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits.
And Indigenous Business Australia was originally known as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commercial Development Corporation and established in 1990.
Its stated purpose is to assist and enhance Indigenous self-management and economic self-sufficiency through a strong presence in mainstream economic development.
There have been suggestions that the purposes of the two include a number of similarities that make merging them worth considering, but Nigel Scullion says he's not committed either way.
"Well, look I'll wait for the report to come back. I'm not really considering any of those matters specifically, I'm just waiting for an independent review to take consideration of all these things and see what the review says, but we'll be looking at a whole range of key stakeholders. It's an independent review and there'll be a whole range of key stakeholders that will be sought to inform the review. It's a public submission process. Anyone who's interested can provide ideas and comments about what isn't working. It's always easy to show what isn't working, but if people have got some ideas and an insight into how to make it work better, we're always keen to hear about this."
The ILC has faced recent criticism for its purchase of the Ayers Rock Resort in the Northern Territory.
Its own Chairperson, Dawn Casey, has called on the Prime Minister Tony Abbott to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the acquistion with the power to call reluctant witnesses and allow evidence to be given under parliamentary privilege.
The purchase cost $317 million in 2010 and was funded through borrowings.
Dr Casey says in the three years since the acquisition, losses of more than $100 million have been reported, including a 62 million-dollar write-down in the value of the resort.
The Corporation's Chief Executive Officer, Mike Dillon, has told a Senate committee he believes there are many unanswered questions over the purchase of the Resort.
Mr Dillon told the Senate Budget Estimates hearing the Corporation has an annual budget of 35-million dollars and 20-million dollars of that is going towards paying back the loan.
"Was the price too high? Was the due diligence adequate? Did the then ILC board take adequate account of the risks? Were normal administrative processes followed? How the previous board of the ILC made this decision to my mind is inexplicable and perhaps inexcusable."
But the Indigenous Affairs Minister, Nigel Scullion, says the controversy over the Ayers Rock Resort did not prompt the review of both the ILC and the IBA.
"None of those matters are subject to the terms of reference for the review. I understand the ILC is providing a review itself, an internal review of those matters, and that's a matter for the ILC. This is about a broader-spectrum approach about how well served they are and how well positioned they are to help Aboriginal and (Torres Strait) Islander people actually achieve the economic development that they wish for and of course in the term 'land rich and dirt poor' is fairly well applicable because we've got lots of land, but there just doesn't seem to be the translation. We've got lots of ideas, lots of land, but there's no translation to business and we need to know how we can better serve Aboriginal and Islander people in being able to realise benefits from their own country."
Contrary to the open criticism of the ILC's purchase of the Ayers Rock Resort, Senator Scullion has told the Senate he's been impressed by its success.
Senator Scullion said that during a recent visit to the resort he was surprised by a significant increase in the number of local Aboriginal workers taking up employment there.
"I was just completely astonished with the difference that people have made in Ayers Rock Resort in the last two years. A couple of years ago, before the purchase of the resort by the Indigenous Land Corporation, there was just literally a handful, I think there might have been two Anangu working at Ayers Rock Resort. I was there last week, over 220 Aboriginal people have been engaged. Now this has to be a beacon to parliament that there are mechanisms and there are ways and if corporations are determined, then we can change."
Chairperson of the New South Wales Indigenous Chamber of Commerce Debbie Barwick says the I-L-C and I-B-A should welcome the chance to review their operations.
"With IBA and ILC I wouldn't be looking at the review in a negative light, I'd be looking at it as an opportunity as I said, an opportunity to have a really good look to ensure that current programs are in line with the demand and what's needed out there. I would like to, I guess, see those agencies working with a bit closer with the chambers of commerce who are out there on the ground because we can certainly assist them in any reviews that they do participate in, but certainly I see it as a positive."
Ms Barwick says the Indigenous business sector is rapidly growing, but could be boosted further with more assistance from large organisations like the Indigenous Land Corporation and Indigenous Business Australia at a local level.
"What we would like to see is recommendations that whether it be with IBA or whether it be with ILC or a combination of the two, we really want to see more grassroots access to business support. That's really what's needed. We have a number of businesses that are doing really, really well and they'd be considered a large business. Then we have the majority of businesses that we work with are micro-businesses so potentially we need to grow those businesses to the point they're able to tender for and win more sizeable contracts and I guess the beauty of that too is the employment that that creates."
