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

It is really important that we place the priority of supporting employment at the heart of any policy. We have a new Indigenous procurement policy and it is doing just that. It not really about procurement; it is about how we lever procurement for the better outcome. We need to harness some $39 billion worth of purchases. We are committing to a target of three per cent by 2020. I think it was $6.2 million in 2012-13. That was in the entire year. I am very pleased to report to the Senate that in our very first quarter, from 1 July this year, we have achieved $34 million worth of contracts. So this is a government that is getting on with the business of delivering jobs and opportunities to our First Australians.