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

Thank you, Senator, for that important question. Can I say this has been the most encouraging Closing the Gap week I can remember. We've had the best results since the target began 10 years ago, with three targets now on track. Yes, there are still another four targets not on track, but I have to say that's a bit unsurprising. When you set targets on the back of a coaster around a kitchen cabinet, you don't have any engagement with communities. You don't have to take my word for that. Page 17 of Oxfam's report released last Friday provides an insight into that approach. So we're going with a different approach—one that will drive real change. So we're consulting Indigenous communities across the country, including through the Special Gathering meeting last week.

It has also been an encouraging week because of the fantastic new initiatives that we launched. We've announced a new Indigenous Grants Policy that will set targets for our service delivery agencies to increase the number of Indigenous community-controlled organisations delivering services. This is a monumental way to change the way we fund service delivery, and it will mean more Indigenous organisations delivering services to communities from the APY Lands through to Point Pearce in the senator's home state. We've also announced a new Indigenous Business Sector Strategy to continue the geometric rate of growth in the sector caused by the now $1 billion worth of investment through Indigenous procurement since the introduction of our IPP compared with just 6.2 in 2012-13. We are expanding the Indigenous Land Corporation's mandate to invest in sea country. We are creating more opportunities to grow the Indigenous estate with our reforms to the land account, which will be a benefit of up to $1.5 billion over 20 years. These initiatives are not from us. These initiatives have come from a partnership with regional and rural Australians, particularly with our First Australians.