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

Clearly, backing Indigenous small business is positive, not only because it's getting people into small business ownership but also because it's getting more Indigenous job seekers into work. We know that the Indigenous businesses that are winning contracts under the Indigenous Procurement Policy have a workforce that is 41 per cent Indigenous, on average, which is 60 times that of other Australian businesses, which have workforces that are around 0.7 per cent Indigenous. This is reflected in the results. Since the last census there's been a 30 per cent increase in the number of Indigenous businesses compared with the last census and a 23.3 per cent increase in the number of Indigenous Australians in a job. Our policies across the board are working. We're getting record numbers of people into jobs, and we're giving some of the most disadvantaged Australians the dignity of work. (Time expired)