Money doesn't buy happiness.

Whoever said that was probably right, but I suggest that economic independence just might. It's my conviction that economic independence which enables one to rise above the paternalistic low expectations that have been thrust upon them as an Indigenous person, and that this may well put them on a trajectory to happiness.

Enabling economic independence, however, requires that we address both sides of the coin. We must discourage welfare dependence on one hand, and encourage wealth creation, employment and business enterprise on the other.

While it might sound a world away from economics, minimising welfare dependence demands that we consider seriously the environments our young indigenous people are growing up in. It is human to take the path of least resistance unless we have good reason to do otherwise. And let's be honest, relative to welfare, the path to economic independence is not the least resistant; it's usually downright hard work. The child whose environment is safe, purposeful and includes caring role models who exemplify hard work is afforded the good reason they need to buck the path of least resistance and work towards economic independence. Needless to say the opposite is also notoriously true.

If we care about Indigenous economic independence, then we need to care about getting young indigenous people away from dysfunctional home environments. I am optimistic when I see educational institutions who recognise this and are willing to run boarding school facilities for this very reason, like Yipirinya School. Unfortunately, the current government has not given adequate consideration to the actual needs of these schools, so we have not seen the progress I am convinced we could otherwise be seeing.

This then leads us to the second aspect of economic independence which is to encourage indigenous wealth creation and business enterprise. I think of the founder of Blackrock Industries Steven Fordham, an Indigenous man who faced plenty of challenges both in his personal health and when he started his business.

Steven is a poignant reminder of the need to defy the victimhood narrative that quite frankly destroys wealth creation. He didn't buy into dependency rhetoric and blame someone else for his plight – instead he used hardship to shape his goals for the future. The outcome of that was to look beyond himself and he now runs a successful private enterprise and started the project Second Chance for Change which provides long-term employment opportunities for previously incarcerated indigenous men.

While some people like Steven can see past the narrative, there are plenty who can't. It is therefore incumbent upon us to change the narrative for them, and to work at improving the environments that our young people grow up in.

So, while money doesn't buy happiness, economic independence gets us a long way there, and when we start to see that in our country, I for one will be very happy.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a Country Liberal Party Senator for the Northern Territory and the Federal Opposition spokesperson on Indigenous policy.

Note: Senator Price's mother, Bess Price, is employed at Yipirinya School as Upper Primary Hub Coordinator; Language and Culture.