Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the question, Senator Back. Since the 2016 election we have been delivering on our commitment to support Indigenous entrepreneurs. We have introduced a $90 million Indigenous Entrepreneurs Fund, which is for Indigenous businesses in regional and remote areas. That is because we recognise that the challenges for business in regional and remote areas—the nature of the markets, the nature of business—are different from those in the cities.

We are also tailoring the Indigenous Procurement Policy to Indigenous businesses in remote communities. Under this policy, government agencies that are looking to procure goods have to seek out an Indigenous business first. We are really sending a signal, and that signal is: if you want to do business with the Commonwealth government in a trillion-dollar economy then you need to be thinking about whether or not you are doing business with Indigenous Australia. It is working. We have gone from $6.2 million, and now I can update the Senate: instead of $407 million, it is $434 million. (Time expired)