Especially prior to the election, the Commonwealth government flagged the potential for more economic-based policies instead of its focus on Indigenous rights, recognition, and truth-telling.

While bringing in policies to assist Indigenous businesses is a step in the right direction, the newly elected Labor government has some work to do when it comes to inviting First Nation leaders to the bargaining table.

The Coalition of Peaks – a national representative body of more than 80 Aboriginal community-controlled peak organisations – released a report in March saying First Nations communities were not being properly consulted on government economic policies.

The Indigenous Business Review (a National Indigenous Times publication) asked the nation's leader in supplier diversity – Supply Nation - what their expectations were from the Labor government going forward.

Supply Nation chief executive Kate Russell said it was important the government continued to support and improve policy settings that assisted business growth and economic empowerment.

"The growth of the Indigenous business sector is having a positive impact on the economy and prosperity of all Australians," she said.

"Continued and improved support for organisations and institutions dedicated to growing Indigenous-owned businesses must remain a high priority."

According to the University of Melbourne's Indigenous business Snapshot, First Nation businesses contribute more than $16 billion to the Australian economy, employ 116,795 people and pay $4.2 billion in wages.

Research has found that Indigenous businesses employ Indigenous Australians at a greater rate than non-Indigenous businesses.

One of the reasons the First Nations economy is booming is partly due to the introduction of the federal government's Indigenous Procurement Policy.

Since its inception in July 2015, the IPP has generated $9 billion in government spending with Indigenous businesses, with more than 47,500 contracts being awarded to more than 3,000 Indigenous businesses.

Earlier this year, the Commonwealth government announced the IPP would be strengthened to require that Indigenous businesses be 51 per cent or more First Nations-owned and controlled to access the IPP.

It also increased its target from 2.5 to 3 percent of contracts from 1 July 2025, increasing to 4 per cent by 2030.

Ms Russell said an increase in the procurement target was a positive step.

"From available reports, we know that Commonwealth portfolios are meeting the current target," she said.

"It has been ten years since the IPP was implemented, and timely that recommendations have been made to review the current procurement target and the definition of an Indigenous business. The sector has grown and matured.

"It is also important that organisations look beyond procurement to what else they can be doing to assist the sector to grow, including true partnerships and collaboration, mentoring, training and business support services, for instance, that can help overcome challenges such as access to capital, skills and knowledge gaps."

One of the major deterrents to the growth of Indigenous businesses has been the unfair practice of black cladding. Black cladding is when non-Indigenous companies boost their Indigenous shareholder base or claim to be First Nation businesses in a bid to win government contracts.

First Nation businesses are getting rorted out of from tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer-funded contracts each year because of it.

Ms Russell said any efforts to mitigate the practice of black cladding or any other fraud or deceptive practices in the sector were welcome.

"Government, businesses and other organisations with an interest in seeing Indigenous businesses grow and succeed all have a role to play in making sure businesses conform to the legislation and regulatory frameworks in place," she said.

"Black cladding is fraud and should be prosecuted as such. Any type of commercial fraud is a serious issue, and Supply Nation takes a zero-tolerance approach.

"Supply Nation has a rigorous approach to our verification processes for our registered and certified Indigenous-owned businesses".

There have been calls from the Indigenous business sector to build on the success of its Commonwealth's IPP by insisting that state and territory governments reach Indigenous employment and procurement parity targets in all projects funded by federal infrastructure grants.

Ms Russell said a level playing field with procurement and employment parity was welcome.

"It is equally important to provide real practical opportunities and assistance to improve education and training, business support, equal and equitable access to business grants and financial capital," she said.