Page 30 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

30 DEFENCEBUSINESS
OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
CLOSING THE GAP – BEYOND METRICS
The Indigenous Procurement Policy, introduced in 2015, is a valuable pathway for promoting Indigenous business development in the industry by mandating annual targets for Indigenous enterprises contracted to the Commonwealth.
ROYA GHODSI | SYDNEY
HOWEVER, compliance with the IPP alone is not a satisfac- tory measure of the quality of the opportunities it affords. For real progress to be made, Defence and industry must think beyond metrics to engage Indigenous people and businesses in more meaningful ways.
For Brendan Dumbrell, a proud Wiradjuri man and the Managing Director of Indigenous and veteran-owned pro- fessional services provider JLB-Yaran, there are certainly gaps in the Department’s understanding around how to en- gage Indigenous businesses.
Dumbrell points to the lack of education around the ex- emption rules that apply to the Commonwealth Procure- ment Guidelines. Exemption 16, for example, allows Gov- ernment departments to sole-source to SMEs with at least 50 per cent Indigenous ownership.
“What we’ve found is that not all delegates within govern- ment departments, Defence included, understand that the ex- emption rule exists,” Dumbrell said. “Some of them are more comfortable engaging with those that they’re familiar with.”
SUSTAINABLE WORK
This means that in JLB-Yaran’s case, most of their work goes through the Major Service Providers.
“I think that’s a key piece that’s being missed – that we can actually be sole-sourced as an Indigenous business,” Dumbrell said. “We talk about indigenous engagement not being a box-ticking exercise, but instead creating meaning- ful opportunities for Aboriginal people –that’s how you do it.
“Indigenous businesses are far more likely to employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, so [by being sourced directly] we’re creating that cumulative effect to- wards the vision of closing the gap economically.”
But for Dumbrell, that employment also needs to be sus- tainable. This means moving beyond employing Indigenous talent to meet a government requirement and investing in their professional development so that they can develop long-term careers.
“Greater focus needs to be placed on the capability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Dumbrell
JLB-YARAN