I've said before that I was wrong about Anthony Albanese.

He's stepped up time and again where I doubted his capacity.

He has done a good job in navigating complexities like the death of the Queen, that would have made many other left-leaning leaders indulge in their activist tendencies.

Instead, he's already starting to be talked about as a statesman, transcending the domestic political fray and representing Australia overseas with a dignity and purpose we've not had for some time.

Inevitably though, his attention must turn to the issues at home.

There is no doubt that there is a sense of dread and foreboding confronting the country.

Inflation and the cost of living is stripping away the earnings of most Australians.

We've seen a reduction in household wealth to the lowest levels in decades.

It's harder than ever to buy a home and for those that do have one, interest rates look like they're only going to continue to rise.

Canberra knows there are problems ahead because time and again the Treasurer has warned us that pain is coming.

It's not a matter of if, but when.

The trouble is that when the other shoe drops, Indigenous Australians are going to be the ones to feel it the most.

This isn't some 'woe is me' story. This is a fact.

Across nearly every indicator of poverty and disadvantage, Indigenous Australians are between two-to-three times worse off.

Some 30 per cent of Indigenous households live in poverty, with unemployment twice that of non-Indigenous people.

The situation gets almost immeasurably worse if you live in a remote community, where poor infrastructure and long-eradicated disease continue to be a burden unlike that which any other Australian has to bear.

The reality though is that it's only going to get worse for many Indigenous Australians. For every measure that gets bad for the country, the impact is amplified for our First Nations community.

Like many Aboriginal people, my family doesn't have the benefit of intergenerational wealth.

Our land was taken from us, we were restricted by law from owning anything or from operating a business until, in the context of colonial arrival, relatively recently.

So just as many are trying to get ahead, the precipice of economic headwinds will only serve to set us all further back.

This will be a test for our Prime Minister, who has shown himself to be a significant ally for Indigenous Australia.

There are levers he can pull which minimises the harm to the Mob.

There are already exceptional organisations like Indigenous Business Australia which, acting on behalf of the Commonwealth, do an excellent job in providing economic support for those in business and those hoping to buy their first home.

IBA and organisations like theirs, should be empowered in these worsening economic times to invest more freely to help our community.

The Prime Minister has a real opportunity here to leverage the good-will he has already developed and lean into the challenges we're all going to face.

Particularly when it concerns the disproportionate impact that these headwinds will have on Indigenous people.

The country is, mostly, united behind Anthony Albanese for now.

This is the time when he can offer to our nation creative and important solutions for the challenges we face, and if he chooses to do so, it will only seek to cement the reputation he has already built both at home and abroad.

• Zak Kirkup is of Yamatji heritage and is the former leader of the Liberal Party in Western Australia