This is the Business Council's submission to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on the Indigenous Business Sector Strategy Consultation Paper.

The Indigenous business sector has grown rapidly in the last decade, spurred by increasing demand from the private and public sectors. This presents challenges and opportunities that require a coordinated and careful response.

To support the sustainable growth of the Indigenous business sector the Business Council recommends the Indigenous Business Sector Strategy (IBSS) include actions to:

1. Establish a permanent cross-sector working group dedicated to overseeing the implementation of the Indigenous Business Sector Strategy.
2. Develop an annual Indigenous business and procurement summit attached to Supply Nation’s Connect conference and tradeshow.
3. Broaden Supply Nation’s certification and quality assurance practices to extend to 50:50 joint ventures and other forms of partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous enterprises.
4. As part of the IBSS, the Commonwealth Government investigate options for improving the collection of data to better measure the activity of Indigenous businesses, including total expenditure, numbers of contracts awarded, numbers of Indigenous businesses and their industry composition.
5. Promote adoption of the Business Council’s Australian Supplier Payment Code so that more Indigenous businesses can receive prompt and on time payment.

Submission on Draft Indigenous Business Sector Strategy