Lifting Indigenous Employment

OUR GOAL AS A NATION MUST BE TO LIFT INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT to mainstream levels. The question is: how can this be done? It is often assumed that a national approach to employment creation will automatically benefit the Indigenous community. But, even a sophisticated job zone strategy might leave Indigenous unemployment relatively untouched, particularly in remote communities. Bringing economic form and substance to previously unrecognised economic assets controlled by the Indigenous community has to be central to any new strategy. Significant public investments and future private investments in Indigenous economic development cannot take root unless this problem is addressed.