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

I thank the senator for the question. We are changing the way we do business by insisting that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and workers get the opportunity to win government contracts. This is how we're doing it across the government already through our game-changing Indigenous Procurement Policy, and now we're starting to demand that projects we fund via the states also include strong Indigenous participation requirements.

Labor have been silent on this. They've made announcements on a whole range of procurement policies but said absolutely nothing about Indigenous involvement. The record speaks for itself. Under Labor, only $6 million worth of government contracts went to Indigenous businesses in the last year of government. Under the coalition, we're now up to $1.8 billion under the Indigenous Procurement Policy. If you're an Indigenous Australian and you want to have the dignity of work and being able to provide for your family and your community, what I say is: don't vote for Labor, because Labor would rather give you a welfare cheque than a well-paid job. (Time expired)