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

First of all, I thank Senator Williams and acknowledge his longstanding role as a champion of Indigenous constituents across regional New South Wales. Our government's Indigenous Procurement Policy is driving Indigenous jobs and economic growth right across the country. The Indigenous Procurement Policy has gone from just over $6.2 million in 2012-13 under those opposite to $598 million in the first two years of our policy. Under the former policies there were just a handful of Indigenous businesses; under our policy there's 956 Indigenous businesses, winning 4,880 contracts across the country. This includes almost 1,400 contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses in Senator Williams's home state of New South Wales worth over $176.6 million. That means that in New South Wales alone, the number of contracts that have been awarded is 28 times that awarded across the country under the policies of those opposite.

This has been a boon for communities across New South Wales, especially in regional areas where our policies of decentralisation are intersecting with our Indigenous Procurement Policy. Take, for example, the relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority Australia—APVMA—which, unfortunately, the Labor Party has opposed at every step. This will deliver fantastic new jobs for the region and, through our Indigenous Procurement Policy, I'm pleased to advise a local Indigenous business has won a $114,000 contract for the schematic design, architectural and engineering components for the new fit-out. You see, that's what those opposite just don't get. It's why the people of New England returned Mr Joyce in a landslide, the highest swing to a sitting MP since 1911.