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

Clearly our policies have been a success, and it's just down to being fair dinkum about things. The IPP works because we set targets that are clear and we made the secretaries for every department accountable for those targets. Unfortunately, what came before the IPP was a convoluted web of policies that no-one understood or really ever enforced. Is it any wonder that in 2012-13 it was only 30 Indigenous businesses which won about $6.2 million in contracts? Contrast that with our policies, which have taken Indigenous procurement from 6.2 to $1 billion in just 2½ years. We're making the necessary investments to keep this growth going through the Indigenous Business Sector Strategy. Unfortunately, the previous approach was the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Economic Participation, which was signed in 2008 with all jurisdictions with much fanfare but was just corporate speak with no response and no resources. It did absolutely nothing.