MAKING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES STRONG THOUGH SMALL BUSINESS

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Making Families and Communities Strong Through Small Business Mara West, Honours Thesis, Murdoch University, 2007suggested joint ventures were the best means of increasing Indigenousinvolvement in business.The Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) stated its’ core functions wasland acquisition and land management. It was established as anindependent statutory authority to address the dispossession ofIndigenous people and to assist them to acquire and manage land toprovide cultural, social and environmental benefits for themselves andfuture generations. They recognise thatFor Indigenous peoples, land is not just a tradeable commodity, thepurpose of which is to extract income and raise capital. Land, asIndigenous people view it, is central to religion, culture and social order.The significance of land to Indigenous people has been recognisedboth in the common law of Australia and in statute law, principally in theNative Title Act1993.Not only were Indigenous people dispossessed of their land, languageand culture, they were not permitted to engage in the non-Indigenouseconomy on an equal footing and have generally been marginalisedfrom the social and economic life of Australia. The cumulative andcombined effects of dispossession and discrimination have resulted incomplex and interrelated areas of disadvantage.(ILC Submission to House of Reps 1998 p4)While the ILC does not see its role as promoting economicdevelopment its ‘management functions can be directed towardsestablishing, maintaining and enhancing economic developmentthrough land-based enterprises’(p7)Other submissions were received from organisations such as theAustralia Council, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the formerWestern Australian Department of Commerce and Trade identifyingtheir commitment to the States Aboriginal Economic DevelopmentStrategy and their Office of Aboriginal Economic Development. A groupfrom Shepparton in Victoria were scathing of the Jobs Network in theirtendency to recycle Indigenous job seekers through short-termpositions that left clients and employers frustrated and angry. Criticismwas also aimed at the Department of Employment and WorkplaceRelations for its ‘one size fits all’ approach which not only affected thejobs area but the broader COAG pilot in Shepparton. This approachtended to support that of the Jobs Network.2.3. <strong>BUSINESS</strong> SUPPORT AGENCIESThere are a number of business support agencies that have been setup or who have had their services expanded to provide support toIndigenous business. Some act as brokers while others providebusiness finance and other support systems. The ADC and ATSIChave been abolished however they are identified here to provide ahistorical perspective of funding bodies that have played a major role infunding Indigenous businesses.18
Making Families and Communities Strong Through Small Business Mara West, Honours Thesis, Murdoch University, 20072.3.1. The Aboriginal Development Commission (ADC) was the forerunnerof Indigenous business services as one of its roles was to assistAboriginal people to engage in business enterprises. The Miller Reporthowever foundthe ADC has performed inadequately in this respect, largely as a resultof its own decision to allocate most of its funds to its housing programs.(Miller p 304)The money that they did allocate to enterprises mainly went to assistingcommunity based enterprises that was described as ‘economic and/orsocial’. A greater number of people benefited but prospects of attainingunassisted commercial viability was restricted and there was very littlefunding available to individuals who were interested in establishing theirown businesses. The criticism didn’t stop there as it was found theADC did not provide training, another one of its roles under theAboriginal Development Commission Act 1980. According to its’ AnnualReport 1983-84 ‘all loan applicants must demonstrate appropriatelevels of skill and experience in the technical and management aspectsof the business’. Considering the history of Aboriginal education andtraining at that time made it extremely unlikely that these skills existedin the community. Miller found the Department of Employment andIndustrial Relations (DEIR) didn’t help matters as their Aboriginal andemployment and training programs focussed exclusively on salariedemployment in mainstream labour market (Miller p306). The situationwas further exacerbated by the failure of the CommonwealthGovernment to appropriate funds to the ADC Capital Fund since 1983.The Capital Fund operates as an accumulative investment accountwithin the ADC. The monies that were supposed to have beenappropriated to this fund have therefore not been available to theCommission to enable it to generate further income from investmentinterests. This has further inhibited the development of Aboriginalbusiness enterprises. (Miller p307)Also, the ADC employed public servants or consultants who had verylittle or no expertise in business and when it was found some of theenterprises were experiencing difficulties the ADC simply ignored them,it was little wonder that many Aboriginal enterprises at the timefloundered. Miller made various recommendations to rectify thesituation among them being the ADC to work closely with theCommonwealth Development Bank who could not only provide loanpackages to suit the client but also an interchange program where ADCstaff would work in the CDB to gain the necessary skills and knowledgeto competently carry out its functional responsibilities. An added benefitwas to include people from other Aboriginal organisations so that theycould gain the skills to enable them to apply for banking positions in thefuture.2.3.2. The Business Funding Scheme was a service provided by ATSIC. Itprovided loans and loans guarantee assistance to individuals and forgrants, loans and loan guarantee assistance to Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander corporations for the purpose of establishingcommercially viable enterprises. This Scheme was not without its19
Page 1 and 2: MAKING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES STR
Page 3 and 4: Making Families and Communities Str
Page 21: Making Families and Communities Str
Page 61: Making Families and Communities Str

MAKING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES STRONG THOUGH SMALL BUSINESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?