E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
MUNDINE MEANS BUSINESS
SUNDAY, 18 MARCH 2018
WARREN MUNDINE, MUNDINE MEANS BUSINESS PRESENTER: We are now joined by our panel. In the studio is the CEO of Supply Nation, Laura Berry. Welcome, Laura.
LAURA JAYS, MUNDINE MEANS BUSINESS PRESENTER: And from Canberra is the Senator for the Northern Territory, Malarndirri McCarthy. Thanks, both of you for joining us.
SENATOR MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY, SENATOR FOR THE NORTHERN TERRITORY: Thank you.
JAYES: Our first question to Laura Berry. Talk to us about Supply Nation.
LAURA BERRY, CEO SUPPLY NATION: OK, Supply Nation, we are a national organisation and we exist to help facilitate the connection, the integration of Indigenous businesses into the supply chains of large corporations. We are all about business, which is why I'm here, I guess. We help to get those businesses the connections and the introductions that they need to those large corporate and government organisations who are making commitments to work with Indigenous businesses, and then we step out of the way and we let that business get done on a commercial arrangement.
JAYES: Sounds like a bit of a dating company. Crudely put.
MUNDINE: I wouldnt know about any of those dating things.
JAYES: I mean, are Indigenous businesses sought out by corporate Australia?
BERRY: Absolutely, we have seen about 100% growth in the number of corporate and government organisations who have joined Supply Nation who are looking to do business. We have about 325 of those organisations currently looking to work with Indigenous businesses in their supply chains.
JAYES: Why are they?
BERRY: For a number of reasons. A number of these organisation, and corporate Australia is really leading the charge since we started our organisation in 2009, in the last two and a half years the Federal Government launched the Indigenous Procurement Policy and that a massive impact on the sector. Its not only asked the Government agencies, the Federal Government agencies to commit to spend with Indigenous businesses but it is also putting provisions in place for organisations who have the government as a client and who are contracting over $7.5 million to be showing how they are including Indigenous businesses and their supply chain.
MUNDINE: And of course Supply Nation has played a massive role in regard to the announcement in the Closing the Gap week, a billion dollars worth of money going out, the 800 hundred or so, nearly a thousand companies know that have been created, but also you do two other important things, the certification, corporations know they are dealing with the right people.
BERRY: Absolutely, one of the main things we hang how hat on is that we have a world leading certification process for Indigenous businesses. A business must be a minimum 50% Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander owned to be on our directory. They go through a series of checks to make sure those businesses are bona fide Indigenous owned businesses and we have an audit process in place as well. So we take that very very seriously to give comfort to those buyers that they are dealing with Indigenous owned businesses.
MUNDINE: The other part is also is to connect. The big show, this is it.
BERRY: Yeah I can give it a plug. Every May, we have a national conference called CONNECT, it is held here in Sydney, and we have about 2000 people to that event across the two days. We have a huge Indigenous business trade show, the largest showcase of Indigenous businesses in the country and we have a knowledge forum that gives people the opportunity to hear from international speakers and national speakers who are showing us what this practice looks like. We wrap it up with a great big gala dinner on the final evening where we celebrate the achievements of all those business owners over the last 12 months.
MUNDINE: I can highly recommend it, it's even bigger than my book!
JAYES: Let me bring in the Senator. Senator, you will know from this program that Warren, in particular, is a big fan of the Indigenous Procurement Policy. We are happy this is an area of bipartisanship, but perhaps he can go above and beyond and get the -- get even bigger. Where do you think there are areas where more that could be done?
MUNDINE: Just before you answer, this is a policy that was created back in the previous Labor Government and youve seen it grow incredible, so I want to praise both sides of politics in regards to this.
MCCARTHY: That is correct Warren. It was certainly after the announcement of Closing the Gap initiative of the Australian Parliament and the Labor Government of the time, and then to have the establishment of business in terms of Indigenous development and economic development, it is a terrific thing. Just listening to Laura Berry there, I was just wondering, whether Supply Nation actually connects people together, facilitates the connection, or do you allow people to actually have direct contact to each other?
BERRY: Both, Senator. So, we have the members who are looking to purchase the goods and services, and we work very closely with those members to help identify the businesses. But absolutely, nothing is stopping those businesses going direct to the organisations to do business with them.
MCCARTHY: I think it is to reflect there is an opportunity for businesses to connect. I guess as always, getting back to your question, Laura Jayes, in terms of what we can do to continually improve, we have so much more to do. We only have to look at say, for example, the NAIF with the $5 billion that is open for Northern Australia, and look at all the Indigenous groups and organisations across Northern Australia who could really benefit from having an opportunity in that application process.
MUNDINE: Just looking at... We're coming up for an election in the next 12 months, just looking at, where does the opposition stand on this issue and what sort of policies... I know you're not the Shadow Minister for this area but what sort of policy are they looking o at going into the future?
MCCARTHY: Sure, look, I can certainly talk as chair of the First Nations Caucus, and say that until -- and tell your audience that as the first Nations Labor Caucus we are definitely looking at the importance of economic delivery in our regions. We know that unless we have healthy and happy communities that we will continue to see some of the social issues we are seeing. You touched on that in your article a few weeks ago, and I don't think there can be anything said to differ from the fact that unless we do work with those social issues, it wont matter how much money we placed into these communities, or opportunities, people do not have homes. If they don't have good schools and good teachers in those areas, if they don't feel safe. So I think there is certainly scope for our First Nations Caucus to keep developing policies around the social areas in order to push through with those Shadow Ministers responsible in terms of the economy.
MUNDINE: Just for our audience, a lot of people wouldnt know this, could you give a bit of an explanation of the First Nations Caucus within the parliament?
MCCARTHY: Sure, what it is, in the Labor Caucus, we have a number of Committees, we have the women's committee, which Tanya Plibersek is Shadow Minister and gives support and advice and also checks back with that sub Committee of Caucus. We also have the same with the Country Labor Caucus, with Joel Fitzgibbon. So Im the Chair of the First Nations Caucus. So anything to do around First Nations Policies whether it is to do with Native Title, or Close the Gap, or whether it is to do with Indigenous businesses, must come to the First Nations Caucus. Thats where we can examine it, we can certainly have input to it and then we can guide our Shadow Ministers as to whether that is the path they should be going.
JAYES: Laura what do you think needs to be done? In terms of policies, what do you think can be done to encourage more Indigenous start-ups in Western Australia, in the Northern Territory? But not just those Indigenous centres all over Australia.
BERRY: I think the first step that we are starting to see is our State Governments are starting to implement their own versions of the Indigenous procurement policies and pushing those down so that at the State and Local level, there are some requirements around using Indigenous businesses. But there also needs to be a whole lot of wraparound support that has to happen for businesses to start up, to be able to access capital, to be able to receive the appropriate business advice. And I think those things are starting to happen and the government has released a ten-year plan under the Indigenous business sector strategy, and I think that's just starting now. Having hubs in various states where Indigenous business owners can come and get advice or do some of that business networking or understand where they may be able to go to get finance, is really critical.
MUNDINE: Look I am a great supporter of some of those policies, especially in regard to the incubators within the CDPs, I think that's a really good step forward in remote and regional Australia and how we can help these small and medium enterprises. And also, the Western Sydney economic centres and stuff like that, we need more of those type of thing where we can bring together investors, bring together entrepreneurs, and business, Indigenous businesses so that they can work together. Another important thing out of that, when you talk about business support, we all know from statistics that the first few years three to four years, but is critical for the small and medium enterprise and start-ups. So how important is it to get that for the simple things like the accountants and book-keeping when you do your BAS statement? I got in trouble with my Dont upset the Tax Office with your BAS... I have done that in the past as well. How important it is for that to be there, within that structure.
BERRY: It is critical. I think Indigenous businesses will fail just as other businesses fail, non-Indigenous businesses fail. But there are added barriers for Indigenous business owners. Having access to the appropriate advice and knowing where to go quickly and in a timely manner, and often in a local setting, is critical.
JAYES: Absolutely. Let's bring the Senator back in. We spoke to Michael Gannon from the AMA a little earlier on the program, and he has made the link between the need to get a job and to be self-sustaining, and Indigenous health outcomes. What do you say to him?
MCCARTHY: Well that's not rocket science, is it Laura? I think for each and every person who has a pretty good job, I think we can all say that it's what makes us get up in the morning, and knowing that we've got a reliable paycheque coming in without any kind of penalties, that we are encouraged in our workplace to develop, those sorts of things are not only good for the economy but theyre good for the spirit, they make us feel good about ourselves as people. So with what the AMA is saying, it's absolutely a no-brainer, really.
JAYES: Well, what more can be done for particularly remote areas of the Northern Territory and Northern Australia, which has a high proportion of Indigenous people? Is it time we started talking about, I dont know, special economic zones?
MCCARTHY: I think sometimes it may be about attitude. I think we have to flip things a bit here. Warren touched on Community Development Project (CDP) for example. We know 33,000 people are on CDP and a large percentage are in the Northern Territory. I think the difficulties we certainly are aware of are the penalties that make it really hard for people to rise above impoverished situation. If they are being penalised, it doesn't give the incentive to actually get up and go. So you are constantly in this cycle of disadvantage, and kind of feeling like you're worth is totally worthless. So I think what we have to do is flip it and go, well, how can we really incentivise in a way that does what youve suggested, have economic hubs, but at the same time a support mechanism that doesn't let people fall down straightaway? They got to be able to keep going for them and as we all know in business, it has its risks, but there are other risks here and they are largely around the social issues.
MUNDINE: Just very quickly as a follow-up to that, looking at the incubators and that. How important is it to have these support structures in place from day one?
MCCARTHY: You asked me earlier about some of the policies we are working on. We are working on the First 1000 days of a child's life. That is how early we had to get into this, dealing with foetal alcohol syndrome and the causes and impacts of that on a child's development. In terms of business hubs, we have to do it from day one, we have to have enthusiasm, energy and attitude that says, you know, it's going to be hard but we are with you and we will walk through and make sure the idea you've got, and if that idea is a small clothing business out in Ngukurr or if it's a printing business on the Tiwi Islands, or if it's out in Arnhem Land with the space base where you want to travel to the stars, let's start with the enthusiasm behind the idea, and encourage and develop and give confidence to people who bring those ideas forward that can be developed.
MUNDINE: We could talk about this subject forever, really. Great to have you both back on the show. Great to talk about some of this stuff
JAYES: Senator, thank you so much for your time.
MCCARTHY: Thank you
ENDS
