This article, by Parry Agius, was published in National Indigenous Times on 26 September 2025. For ten years, South Australia’s Aboriginal procurement policy has been treated as optional. Plans have been drafted, policies softened, targets overlooked. The result? A lost decade for Aboriginal business and community wealth.
Aboriginal people know that contracts are not just about dollars. Every contract grows capability, community, and futures. Yet when Aboriginal businesses are denied contracts, communities are denied footholds. For too long, Aboriginal families have been left to hope instead of plan, to dream instead of build.
That loss is not just economic — it is deeply personal, felt in every home and every community. Wealth and choice were denied. Tier 1 companies keep 75 per cent of the pie. Aboriginal business deserves its legislated 25 per cent, not as charity, not as welfare, but as earned participation in South Australia’s economy.
If 25 per cent matters, it must be law. Plans can be ignored, policies can be softened, but law is binding. Law has teeth.
The next 25 years could be the beginning of Aboriginal innovation at its peak — not just in government contracts but across industries, from construction to retail to technology. This is how South Australia can be remembered as the place that moved from welfare to wealth, from dependence to choice, and from division to shared pride.
Wealth and choice are not just outcomes; they are tools of influence for generations to come. South Australians can be proud of that vision. Proud to vote for it, proud to stand for it, proud to build it.
Parry Agius is the Chairperson of the Aboriginal Business Industry Chamber of South Australia (ABICSA)