Summary

The purpose of the situational analysis is to attain a better understanding of the relationship between First Nations primary production enterprises and the larger Australian primary industries, focusing primarily on agriculture.

The study identifies that:

• While a significant amount of primary production occurs on the First Nations Estate, a significant majority of this is not undertaken by First Nations primary production enterprises
• There is still a relatively small, but emerging and unique First Nations primary production industry that is diverse, increasingly financially sustainable, and delivering significant cultural, environmental and social benefits to local First Nations communities
• There is opportunity to grow the First Nations primary production industry so that it makes a significant and unique contribution to the growth targets of Australian primary industries – beyond what the agricultural industry or the Australian Government have contemplated.

To achieve this mutually beneficial outcome for Australia’s First Nations people and their agricultural industry, a concerted effort needs to be made to better understand:

• the nature and extent of agricultural production that takes place on the Indigenous Estate
• the nature and extent of the First Nations primary production industry; opportunities to accelerate First Nations agricultural capability development
• attraction of social impact and other Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) oriented investment to the emerging sector. This effort needs to be overseen and driven by a multi-stakeholder, mission-oriented industry development governance framework.

Key recommendations include:

• Establish adequately reliable agricultural, fisheries, aquaculture and forestry economic data pertaining to the Indigenous Estate and Indigenous primary production enterprises.
• Develop a portfolio of positive First Nations primary industries case studies to generate stakeholder (including investor) confidence in the First Nations primary industry sectors.

• Engage with the global social impact investment sector to develop a framework for identifying potential flow across First Nations primary production in Australia.

• Establish a First Nations primary industries taskforce to develop strategies and initiatives to:

  • identify opportunities, and activate primary production from underutilised areas of the Indigenous Estate

  • ​​​​​​​identify and advocate for changes to legislation as necessary to optimally facilitate increased production from the Indigenous Estate and ESG collaborations
  • identify opportunities and develop strategies to optimise market access, enter new markets and develop new products