Indigenous Affairs
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The CIS has been publically advocating for improving the outcomes of Indigenous Australians since 2004. Our work has spanned health, education, housing, private property rights, criminal justice, child protection and employment policy reform and had a direct impact on government thinking on Indigenous issues.
Our latest focus is on improving Indigenous economic outcomes.
The Prosperity Project: Strategies for Indigenous Economic Development
The Prosperity Project focuses on the practical measures that will enable Indigenous communities to improve their economic outcomes and bring about meaningful and sustainable change.
While there is much goodwill in Australia to improve Indigenous outcomes, there is a surprising gap in the knowledge about what works.
The Prosperity Project aims to bring likeminded individuals together to help fill that gap and drive the agenda for change.
The Prosperity Project will look at how a more enabling environment for Indigenous enterprise could be created and which models of support and corporate partnerships work most effectively in which context. It will also look at strategies to improve the accountability and effectiveness of Indigenous corporations.
Featured Publication
Submission to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – Consultation Paper: COAG Closing the Gap Refresh
Charles Jacobs
30 April 2018
While the targets set in 2008 were ambitious, and the task immense, the failure to meet the majority of targets implies the need for a reassessment of the underlying principles and structures of the Closing the Gap strategy. The Centre for Independent Studies welcomes the opportunity to make a submission…
READ MOREPublications
Risky business: the problems of Indigenous business policy
Charles Jacobs
29 November 2017 | RR35
The Commonwealth’s Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) has put Aboriginal owned small businesses at the heart of a renewed approach to Indigenous economic development. The IPP has irrevocably changed the space, and the Indigenous business sector has grown exponentially since its introduction in 2015. While the…
Impact Investing: harnessing capital markets to solve societal problems
Josephine Cashman
25 October 2017 | OP158
In the post GFC environment, with the risk and return matrix and reputation risk to corporations and financial institutions, capital markets are attracted to social impact investing. Impact investing, or social impact investing, offers opportunities for investors with a commitment to social responsibility to invest…
Submission to Productivity Commission - Draft report: Introducing Competition and Informed User Choice into Human Services
Michael Potter, Sara Hudson
14 July 2017 | CIS Submission
The Productivity Commission (PC) released a draft report proposing reforms to increased competition, contestability and informed user choice to human services. CIS responded to the PC’s report with a submission covering two issues raised in the draft report: social housing and remote Indigenous communities. In…
Evaluating Indigenous programs: a toolkit for change
Sara Hudson
04 June 2017 | RR28
The federal government recently announced it will allocate $10 million a year over four years to strengthen the evaluation of Indigenous programs. However, given that the average cost of an evaluation is $382,000, the extra $10 million a year for Indigenous program evaluations will not…
Submission to the Queensland Productivity Commission on: Service Delivery in remote and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities
Sara Hudson, Heidi Kiekebosch-Fitt
02 June 2017 | CIS Submission
The Inquiry into service delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders closely aligns with the CIS’s focus on Indigenous service delivery and achieving better outcomes for Indigenous peoples as part of our Prosperity Project. The Prosperity Project is a program of research focused on the…
Media & Commentary
ILC poor land management model
Charles Jacobs
10 August 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre
The recent controversy surrounding the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) in Cape York is emblematic of a government body operating on a broken model. Established in 1995, the ILC is a…
Indigenous prosperity is key to Closing the Gap
Charles Jacobs
30 July 2018 | The Australian
Illustration: Eric Lobbecke A decade ago the federal government launched the watershed Closing the Gap strategy, which set several key targets aimed at reducing the health, educational and economic disparities…
Indigenous prosperity plan panned
Charles Jacobs
20 July 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre
Critics of the federal government’s plan to ‘refresh’ the Closing the Gap strategy have argued that the new focus on economic development and prosperity is misguided and will impede improvements…
Indigenous child welfare double standards will perpetuate gap
Jeremy Sammut
15 June 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre
Bill Shorten has been rightly criticised for his comments suggesting ‘culture’ take priority over the welfare of Indigenous children — and for suggesting that only ‘whitefellas’ say otherwise. But it’s…
Competition breeds benefits for Indigenous business
Charles Jacobs
25 May 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre
Much has been said about the federal government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP). Launched in 2015, supporters have hailed the scheme as one of the ‘proudest achievements’ in Indigenous affairs. However,…