The national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media says the eligibility criteria for funding for First Nations businesses needs to be completely overhauled to "weed out the imposters".
The new Chief Executive of First Nations Media Australia (FNMA), Professor Shane Hearn, was calling for greater scrutiny on the companies that may be exploiting government procurement policies.
A proud Noongar man originally from Esperance, Western Australia, Professor Hearn's radical plan would require First Nations companies to meet strict criteria before they receive funding including:
Have a First Nations person/s on the executive leadership group and their voice is heard and included as part of key decision-making for the business.
Demonstrate the work they do provides benefits to the First Nations community.
Have a Reconciliation Action Plan.
Employ 3%, (of total staff) full-time First Nation staff.
"My call to action is simple, that if a business can't demonstrate truthfully, that they meet the list (there are more items that would be included) then they should be screened out of the process immediately," Professor Hearn said. "The ideal would be for 100% Aboriginal-owned businesses to be the prerequisite and receive the funding."
The researcher and lecturer in First Nations Health at Bond University said businesses should also be made to verify their companies are majority owned and controlled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Under the federal government's Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) a First Nations company is defined as a business with at least 50 per cent Indigenous ownership.
Professor Hearn said this could also help address the ongoing issue of so-called "black cladding".
He said in many cases businesses were not employing First Nations people or giving back to the community.
"The evidence that we should be looking at is, have they got demonstrated work in that aboriginal space have they got references from the aboriginal people they work with," he told NIT.
"They have to display the evidence from the community or other key people, that they have done this in a way that they have left the community empowered or changed something for the community to their advantage."
Professor Hearn said having more First Nations representation on decision-making committees and assessment panels would ensure some of the funding wasn't just flowing to companies controlled by non-Indigenous people.
He said the idea there weren't enough First Nations 'experts' to appear on panels was outdated and nonsensical.
"We have the expertise - we are doctors, we are communication specialists, we are teachers, we are in every workplace," he said.
"The employment of aboriginal people is paramount. A lot of these agencies will take significant money from the aboriginal person but not employ aboriginal people."
