Defence contributes to enhancing Indigenous entrepreneurship and business development, including through procurement opportunities in regional and rural Australia to support and grow the Indigenous business sector.

Since the introduction of the Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy, Defence has consistently exceeded its Indigenous Procurement Policy targets. In 2019–20 the Defence target for number of contracts remained at 3 per cent of eligible domestic contracts, equalling 691 contracts for the Defence portfolio. In addition, the Government has introduced a value-based target for contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses. The value target commenced at 1 per cent in 2019–20 and will increase by 0.25 per cent each year to reach 3 per cent by 2027.

In 2019–20 Defence significantly exceeded its number and value targets. Our performance against the portfolio’s annual targets is published on the National Indigenous Australians Agency website (see Appendix D: Supplementary online material).

Defence’s commitment and pathway to meeting the outcomes of the Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy are articulated in our Indigenous Procurement Strategy. Through strong leadership, raised awareness and clear communication, Defence is well positioned to deliver on supplier diversity and Indigenous engagement outcomes across our procurement environment.

In recognition of Defence’s efforts to support Indigenous procurement, we received the Supply Nation Government Member of the Year Award for 2019.