Indigenous communities and business: three perspectives, 1998-2000

The issues of Indigenous engagement with business are perennially debated and nowhere is this question more pertinent than in the community sector. Indigenous people often live in remote communities, often underdeveloped and dependent on the state, where the market is largely absent. 'Doing business' in such circumstances can be extremely difficult. This working paper comprises three previously unpublished papers: New horizons, new opportunities, new strategies: where to now for 'doing business with Indigenous communities'?; The development potential of the Indigenous economy and the role of 'doing business'; and Culture and commerce: are they separable in Indigenous business policy? All three papers are informed by the reality that in many situations Indigenous Australians continue to have very circumscribed economic options. In rural and remote locations these limits might be set by resource constraints, locational disadvantage and limited resource endowments. In urban situations, limits might be set by historical legacies like poor education and health, poverty traps associated with demographic structure and access to welfare and increasingly competitive labour markets.