Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I agree with him that many of those programs are wonderful programs. I have seen the real impact of the Clontarf program, for instance, in practice. It has had a profound and wonderful impact in my electorate over an extended period of time.

Before I get to the member for Murray's question, I want to finish off on this ANAO question with a couple more comments. What the ANAO audit did not recognise was that frontline delivery was maintained and outcomes were improved through the introduction of the IAS, of course. Since the implementation of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy in 2014, over 8,500 grants have been funded to a combined value of just under $3½ billion. But, importantly—and part of your question was about how we are consulting with communities to design programs, which is always a good question—what we have sought to do in the IAS is enable greater flexibility and responsiveness in program delivery through the introduction of the IAS itself to better meet the aspirations of individual communities. That is a real focus for what we are doing. We are listening to stakeholder feedback. With any program, it is as important to learn from the past as it is to put the program in place in the first place. There has been a real effort across government to achieve that.

I want to come back to this question of the justice target in a moment but, before I do, I want to answer the question from the member for Murray on Indigenous business and employment. I commend you for the question and for your focus on employment focused on Indigenous businesses. I firmly believe that there is no better way to get people into work than by having a business that they feel they are a part of, that they control and that is genuinely theirs. We are committed to growing the Indigenous business sector. We see it as a real focus. We think it will create more jobs and provide greater economic independence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We also think that it strengthens the overall Australian economy and increases growth and company tax revenue, and that is good for all of us. It also creates trade opportunities internationally.

One way we are doing that is with the Indigenous Procurement Policy, which is driving demand for services that Indigenous businesses provide. The IPP gives those businesses an opportunity to bid for work, and this is another part of what I have seen in action in my own rural electorate. Indigenous businesses are required to demonstrate, like all other businesses, that they are value for money. We have seen them succeed in doing exactly that, and the great thing about this is that it is really working. We have brought forward the target of three per cent by 2020 to this year, nearly three years ahead of schedule. That has been a really terrific outcome. It has delivered extraordinary results in its first 18 months, with 708 Indigenous businesses winning more than $407 million in contracts. This is real, measurable success that we can all be proud of.

To support that increasing demand, the government has just released a draft Indigenous Business Sector Strategy for further testing with the sector. That 10-year road map is fuelled by what Indigenous businesses have told us they need to thrive. This ensures that the programs are designed through working with local communities and businesses, and we will be going out and talking with the sector over the coming weeks to ensure we get that final strategy right. As part of that strategy we are looking to establish the Indigenous Entrepreneurs Capital Scheme, which will work with those businesses that cannot access mainstream finance. One of the great challenges is accessing finance and helping people to understand what they have to do to access finance. That strategy is the cornerstone of the $115 million we are spending on the Indigenous entrepreneurs package.

In the time I have left, let me finish with a couple of comments on the justice target for incarceration. You raised a good question. We share your concern and that of many Australians about the rate of Indigenous imprisonment. I think it is a very good question. When young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men see jail as a rite of passage, we have really failed to do the right thing by them. So we are working with state and territory governments to introduce justice targets. Ultimately, they are responsible for the criminal justice system, and they have the levers to effect the important changes that we want to see and that I know you want to see. So it is crucial that we work with them so they can put those targets in place.

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