Indigenous business leaders have been striving for decades to grow and empower employees. Now, a new indicator has been developed to track the goal to Close the Gap on Indigenous Employment by 2031

The Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership bring data milestones from the Indigenous Economic Power Project (IEPP) to showcase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned businesses and the jobs in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses as a new indicator (SE8i) in the Closing the Gap Dashboard. This data brings a new data insight to complement the statistics relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment.

The National Agreement on Closing the Gap represents a joint commitment by Australian governments and Peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to address the longstanding inequalities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As part of this commitment, 19 socio-economic targets have been established to drive improvements across a range of outcome areas, with progress against these targets measured and reported. Importantly, the sources of data are expanding from primarily publically held data through the ABS and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to feature community sourced data from community controlled organisations and research projects.

Throughout the life of the National Agreement, the Productivity Commission has continued to refine and expand the indicators used to measure progress to provide a more nuanced understanding of the factors influencing outcomes. For example, instead of solely measuring the rates of incarceration, indicators have been developed which also attempt to track rates of contact with police, rates of sentencing, and prisoner health. While some of these new indicators draw on existing administrative datasets, others reflect the emergence of new data capabilities developed in response to community priorities and the need to measure aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lives that have historically been overlooked within national statistical collections.

In its latest suite of indicators, the Productivity Commission, in partnership with Dilin Duwa, has developed measures of Indigenous business growth and activity under Outcome 8 of Closing the Gap report. Beyond creating jobs, Indigenous businesses provide a means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to exercise economic self-determination, advancing social, cultural, and community priorities alongside commercial objectives.

The growth and expansion of the Indigenous business sector in recent years have been substantial and is an important measure of Indigenous economic self-determination. Recognising this, a new indicator of self-managed business ownership (SE8i) will be included in Outcome 8 of the Closing the Gap report; 'Strong economic participation and development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

Outcome 8 of the National Agreement tracks economic participation and development, primarily through the national Indigenous employment rate. For the first time, it will also measure the number of actively trading businesses and corporations with at least 50% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ownership, and the number of people employed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses. It will do so relying on data produced by Dilin Duwa, the Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership at the University of Melbourne.

The incorporation of this indicator is important for several reasons. First, this is a measure that moves away from the deficit discourse embedded within the National Agreement, moving away from the measurement of 'gaps'. Second, this is a measure, not of Indigenous 'participation' within the economy, but of the extent to which Indigenous peoples are shaping the economy and building their own economies. Third, this represents the inclusion of data developed by an Indigenous-led research centre in response to the needs of the Indigenous business sector.

By tracking the Indigenous business and corporation ecosystem and its employment on an annual basis, the data will provide up-to-date measures to track growth in the sector, including the flow-on benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment.

Previous work by Dilin Duwa has highlighted the importance of the ecosystem in creating employment opportunities, with 1 in every 3 jobs being held by an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Keeping the pulse on the ecosystem and its employment gives policy makers and industry sight of the possible effectiveness of programs to support the sector, including the Federal Government's Indigenous Procurement Policy.

For a long time, the invisibility of the sector has been a problem for accountability of programs to support the ecosystem and for understanding its social, cultural and economic contribution.

Importantly, the statistics provide dual measures of Indigenous businesses and corporations. Those where at least 50% of owners self-identify as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders in administrative data (e.g. census) and those whose owners publicly register their businesses as being at least 50% Indigenous owned. However, both measures of the ecosystem in initial 2026 statistics are an incomplete picture of the ecosystem.

For the former (self-identified businesses), the data is only available for sole traders and partnerships. Work is underway to complete the coverage by adding self-identified companies in 2027. For the latter, identification relies on Indigenous business and corporation registry owners providing Dilin Duwa with a list of ABNs on their registries. Dilin Duwa is currently seeking contributions form new registry owners to form a clearer picture of the activity of businesses that make the Indigenous status of their business visible.

Employment is a lagging indicator of the health of the economy. The numbers we rely upon to gain insight to understand 'Strong economic participation and development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities' in Outcome 8 of the close the Gap measures have been employment.

This is measured at the individual participation level and hides the complexity of the employment landscape pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The impact of geographic location, educational attainment, macroeconomic conditions, government policy and incentives, and flexibility for individuals and communities to engage in traditional and cultural activities provide for a marked difference in how to further understand employment. This highlights how economic participation through employment is subject to external conditions beyond the control of individuals, no matter how great their skills, education and track record may be.

This new indicator shifts the needle from a sole focus on the aggregate picture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individual employment status as a signal of economic participation to include the emerging self-determination of the Indigenous business and corporation's ecosystem. Indigenous founded, led, owned and operated businesses and corporations are a profound expression of economic empowerment, fostering pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and communities.

This expression creates an important stepping stone in rewriting Indigenous futures as futures where Indigenous self-determined economic independence is the norm, not just a dream.

Measuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business numbers and employment is a leading economic indicator giving us a strong signal of long-term economic growth. This is even more significant when considering the role Indigenous businesses and corporations play as vehicles of self-determination. Businesses are an act of economic autonomy that showcase market innovations and reinvest in people and place through employment, training, sponsorships and in-kind giving.

The ripple effect of Indigenous businesses and corporations resonates directly and indirectly - from the individual owner and their family through to the building of intergenerational wealth, to employees who are contracted in higher level roles and paid better on average, to customers, clients, stakeholders, shareholders and communities connected to owners and employees.

As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people increasingly create their own conditions for economic participation through business ownership and leadership, it is vital that we demonstrate the measures of this contribution through the milestones of business ownership, employment numbers and eventually a measure of Indigenous employment as representation of the economic impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.

The new Close the Gap indicator 8i is bold, it is an expression of Indigenous confidence that moves beyond measuring the gap and demonstrates the reality of Indigenous economic empowerment.

More details are available online.