Key Points:

- The Kimberley is 40 per cent Aboriginal. Only 10 per cent of its businesses are.

- "If you had $50,000, you'd give it to an Aboriginal organisation before you gave it to an Aboriginal business"

- Why Natasha Short says the winds of colonisation are stronger now than 20 years ago.

Kimberley businesswoman Natasha Short has set a 20 per cent Indigenous procurement target for Maganda Makers, the women's business club she chairs, and challenged government and corporate Australia to follow.

"You've got the Indigenous Procurement Policy sitting at 3 per cent getting up to 4 per cent over a period of time. That's a great initiative by the government, by the way, to set that. That's a start," Ms Short told the Broome Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Indigenous Business Forum. "But when it comes to our Aboriginal-led entities, why aren't we far exceeding that?"

"We're going to set 20 per cent. Now maybe that's a bit aspirational. Maybe we're not going to hit there, but wouldn't it be fantastic if we got 10 per cent?"

A descendant of the Jaru people of Halls Creek and managing director of consultancy Kimberley Jiyigas, Ms Short used her address to lay out a sharp diagnosis of why Aboriginal business in the region is not where it should be, and what governments, boards and procurement officers can do about it.

The headline number she put on the table: the Kimberley has roughly 2,500 businesses across the region, and Aboriginal people own about 10 per cent of them. Aboriginal people make up about 40 per cent of the Kimberley population.

"If we're 40 per cent of the population, shouldn't we be 40 per cent of the businesses and not 10 per cent of the businesses? Is that reasonable?"

"In this prosperous nation of Australia, I don't accept that the first people of this land should be sitting amongst the poorest."

Ms Short framed business itself as the response. "I've actually seen a rise of poverty across our communities. And I believe that business is an antidote. Business is a response to that poverty. We want to be empowered in our own right, on our own terms, on our own country."

She founded Kimberley Jiyigas in 2018 after a business coach suggested she go out on her own, a suggestion she said had never been put to her in 25 years of community development work. In 2020 she launched Maganda Makers, a Kimberley Aboriginal women's business club that has grown to more than 140 members and last year incorporated as a standalone not-for-profit. Maganda, she said, is Jaru for tomorrow.

She was blunt about where the money currently flows.

"If you had $50,000, you'd give it to an Aboriginal organisation before you gave it to an Aboriginal business. The $50,000 is diluted in the Aboriginal organisation. $50,000 to a business owner is going straight to the Aboriginal family, going straight to their table."

"When it comes to Aboriginal businesses, we are unparalleled for our reinvestment back into mob. We are unparalleled. We're the sleeping giant that the Supply Nation report talks about."

She drew a hard distinction between Aboriginal businesses and the non-Indigenous operators who, she said, have built wealth in Aboriginal communities without giving back at the same rate.

"Some are multi-millionaires because they've positioned themselves in Indigenous communities. But that level of give back is nowhere near what our mob are doing for mob. We have to recognise that and activate."

Ms Short said she was still being passed over for work in her own region by consultants who had only recently arrived.

"I'm still competing against people who just arrived in the Kimberley three years ago and they're getting engaged before me to deliver some service to a community or to an Aboriginal group. What's going on? Am I missing something here?"

"We've got money coming into the Kimberley now. Where is it going to? How is it being dispersed to the people?"

She told the room that the pressure on Aboriginal people and Aboriginal-owned businesses had grown, not eased.

"I'm sure that we're feeling the full winds of colonisation now more so than what we did 20 years ago. We're up against some really strong winds. We need allies and friends and advocates in this space who will see us, recognise us, and do a little bit of the heavy lifting."

Her definition of an ally was specific.

"An ally to me is not someone that keeps someone down that they're dependent on you. The ally's job is that you empower a person whereby they can stand on their own two feet."

She also pushed back on the consultation-heavy model that has dominated Aboriginal affairs.

"People are absolutely fatigued. Tired of being consulted. Tired of other people getting the gigs that they know that they have got enough experience and knowledge about to put forward to get a better outcome for our own people. We have a vested interest. We're talking about our own family."

For boards and executives in the room, she gave a direct instruction.

"If you're sitting as the director on the board, ask your executive staff in your organisation, are you actually engaging Aboriginal businesses first? I'm not talking about token business engagements. I'm talking about strong, capable people that can bring a real value."

Ms Short's longer plan for Maganda Makers extends well past the Kimberley. The club is the first step in a broader initiative called Future Weavers, which she said aimed to set up sister clubs in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

"Northern Australia has the highest percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia. We might be 3 per cent across Australia, but we're 16, 17 per cent across northern Australia, with a very large claim to the land. How are we using our land to make money? How are our PBCs working with mob to actually empower them financially?"

She closed on the women already doing the work. Most Maganda Makers members, she said, run businesses tied directly to their language group, country and cultural knowledge, and many are passing that knowledge to their daughters and granddaughters.

"We've got to restore pride. We've got to encourage this. We've got to invest in this. We've got to see it for what it's worth."