Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011–2018

From left: Minerals Council of Australia chair Peter Johnston, Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and Australian Indigenous Chamber of Commerce director Warren Mundine at the launch of the Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011-2018, Sydney, NSW.

The Australian Government released its Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011–2018 on 19 October 2011. The Strategy is an Australian Government policy framework that aims to support the increased personal and economic wellbeing of Indigenous Australians through greater participation in the economy. It focuses on five priorities to improve the prosperity of Indigenous Australians:

strengthen foundations to create an environment that supports economic development;
invest in education;
encourage participation and improve access to skills development and jobs;
support the growth of Indigenous business and entrepreneurship; and
assist individuals and communities to achieve financial security and independence by increasing their ability to identify, build and make the most of economic assets.
Each priority contains a set of objectives that will guide Australian Government decision making, policy and program development through to 2018.

The Strategy details a number of actions to 2013. These actions are already underway or are soon to commence. They will be updated every three years to ensure that the Government continues to respond to new opportunities and challenges.

View the Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011–2018 [ PDF 7.8MB] | [ RTF 795kB]
View the Indigenous Economic Development Framework [ PDF 345kB] | [ RTF 131kB]
Read the media release
Read a transcript of the speech – Launch of Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011-2018

Consultations

The Strategy is the result of extensive consultation — with businesses, community organisations, individuals, and state, territory and local governments.

The Government released a draft Strategy for public consultation on 24 May 2010 and actively sought feedback on it up until 17 December 2010. Over 110 written submissions were received on the draft Strategy and over 700 people attended the 20 public consultation workshops that were held in selected locations around Australia in November 2010. All feedback received on the draft strategy, including feedback from the written submissions and the public consultation workshops, was considered by the Government prior to the finalisation of the Strategy.

The official workshop records have been signed as an accurate record of the workshops by the independent facilitators and are now available online. All submissions were screened for privacy and other legal issues before being published online.