Don Fuller

Indigenous Small Enterprise in Northern Australia: A Case Study of the Warai

Starting from the premise that subsistence-based economic systems have experienced the most difficulty in becoming involved in the production of goods and services in a market economy, a case study of the Warai, an indigenous clan in Northern Australia, is presented. The opportunities and constraints to Warais small pastoral enterprise and cattle-holding facility are examined using a structured questionnaire based on previous scholarship. The information collected allows an assessment of the economic research and process involved in establishing the first Warai economic enterprise. The results reveal serious deficiencies in business research and planning skills, as well as in skills related to financial management control, organizational and human resource management, and marketing. A major reason for the commercial failure of SMEs in this Australian pastoral enterprise is related to enlarging the scale and technological complexity of operations beyond the skill levels of the managers of the operational personnel. The aims and objectives of indigenous people should be fully understood in order to provide them with adequate research and technical assistance so that their SMEs may become financially successful. (CBS)

The importance of Indigenous educational outcomes to small enterprise development within remote indigenous communities of Northern Australia

Abstract This paper assesses the extent to which the education system in Australia has produced outcomes likely to facilitate the development of an entrepreneurial culture for Indigenous Australians. Data from the 1991 and 1996 censuses indicate that Indigenous Australians are more likely than Non-Indigenous to leave school at an early age. Their level of attendance at post-secondary educational institutions is also substantially lower. Young Indigenous people are less likely to hold a qualification than their Non-Indigenous counterparts. Such outcomes are supported by field research in remote communities in the Northern Territory, which indicates that the skills required to manage and operate a small business are extremely scarce. This situation, and the poor educational outcomes that contribute to it, is one of the most important constraints upon the development of Indigenous owned and operated small businesses in remote areas, with important implications for economic and human development. The paper suggests a number of reasons why this situation exists. It also proposes a number of policy changes designed to increase the number of Indigenous small business owner-managers, by enhancing the educational outcomes of Indigenous young people.

Indigenous Economic and Human Development in Northern Australia

Don Fuller and Eileen Cummings argue that in Australia the destruction of the previously productive Indigenous economic system has led, since the 1970s in particular, to a dependence on government services and programmes. A number of researchers and practitioners have begun to question the implications of such dependence for the economic and human condition of Indigenous Australians. The authors maintain that a higher degree of economic equality needs to be achieved before many of the severe social problems, which also confront Indigenous Australians, can be properly addressed. An important constraint to improved economic equality lies in the unacceptably low educational outcomes and opportunities for business skills development for Indigenous Australians.

Indigenous Small Enterprise Development: Implications For Policy

Abstract There are a number of important ways in which economic independence for Indigenous Australians can be enhanced and the economic development of their communities promoted. An important avenue will lie in the establishment of small business enterprises. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody made valuable proposals about the means by which government policies and programs might be structured to maximise the opportunities for improving the economic situation of Indigenous people. This included the identification of a number of small business sectors seen to be important in promoting Indigenous economic development. Many of these proposals have remained dormant. Within this context an initial requirement is for a better understanding of the main determinants of Indigenous labour force behaviour at the local level. A main purpose of this paper therefore is to investigate, using Population Census data, the Indigenous labour force outcomes of a number of small, relatively remote regions within the Northern Territory of Australia.