Q&A: We are the future of the whole economy, not just the First Nations economy.

In conversation with Shelley Cable, ANZ’s Head of First Nations Strategy (Australia) and Professor Deen Sanders OAM, Deloitte Access Economics Partner, following the launch of the report ‘Australia’s $50 billion opportunity’, and ANZ’s inaugural First Nations Strategy.

"The beauty of investing in and backing the First Nations economy is that it's not just good for First Nations people. It is good for investors, it is good for the bank, it's good for the Australian economy." - Shelley Cable

What is the First Nations Economy?

Shelley: There’s no single definition of the First Nations economy in Australia. That was part of our work; to figure out how we define it. For this report we've defined it as the businesses that are majority owned by First Nations people in Australia – but we know that it can be much broader.

Part of the discussions we had was, is the First Nations economy even separate from the Australian economy? Is it possible to delineate the two? And that's one of the messages that is coming through clearly in this report. We shouldn't think of the First Nations economy as a silo, because the more that it's embraced, the more it will impact and benefit the broader Australian economy.

Deen: I think it's really important to understand that the way we measure the First Nations economy right now is limited to the public data we have available. ‘51% Indigenous-owned and operated’ is the number that is understood in current literature. But that potentially leaves a whole lot of businesses out, and the report speaks to an even larger possibility of scale and opportunity.

Because we wanted to use reliable data, we wanted data that was provable, we worked with the known facts. But those facts leave a lot out, and it’s exciting to imagine the possibilities.

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This report is unprecedented. Why?

Shelley: This is Australia's first ever forecast of the First Nations economy. It was a gap that we're really happy to fill as ANZ. We've seen the power of these kinds of reports.

For example, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has done similar research and estimates that the Māori economy has an asset base of $126 billion NZD, and we've seen how powerful that is for encouraging investment and building confidence in that sector.

When you look at Australia, it's only been recently through the work of Professor Michelle Evans, that we've been able to identify what we think is the current First Nations economy in Australia.

It's only been since that data has been made available that we've been able to do this. And we're really pleased as ANZ to play this role and to help start new conversations about what this First Nations economy is and can be.

Deen: Another way of also thinking about its unprecedented nature is that, to Shelley's point, most of the work that's been done before, including in New Zealand, is what we would call, in economics terms, ‘counting’ studies.

This report is different in that this is a forecasting exercise. This is an exercise in understanding the shape of that economy, and what factors are going on inside it and the wider economy, that will give rise to predictable success. So it's groundbreaking in that regard, too. It's not just a counting of what exists. It's also a consideration of what could exist when you pull the right levers as an economy.

The report also steps into the vitally important area of trying to understand the way First Nations people do business differently. That uniqueness, that entrepreneurial, domestically driven, collective nature is exciting to see, and that's frankly a significant story to be said about our communities and the different ways of thinking about it.

What surprised you in this report?

Deen: The numbers were surprising, I mean a $51 billion dollar economy in 10 years is powerful, but really only because they challenge us to understand what’s been holding the sector back from growth. In particular, we wanted to imagine what happens when you actually unlock all the doors (of networks and capital), when you open all the avenues of opportunity, well, we get to that $51 billion by 2030, $232 billion by 2050. But when you actually unlock all the doors - and open all the windows too - you get an even bigger number of potentially $488 billion by 2050. And when you start to think about that possibility, we are talking about economic transformation, and that's what we want to invite Australia into. To think of the possibility if we all start pulling the right levers in the right way.

Shelley: The projected growth of the First Nations economy is not a surprise to people who work in it or are surrounded by it. It is entirely expected, actually. I think it'll be a surprise to people who have never heard of the First Nations economy before. It’s been quite a hidden part of the Australian economy until now. And that's one of the key things we'd love people to take away from this report. This is not a niche sector. This is big, it's already big and it's growing.

What are some barriers to growth that exist?

Deen: That is the key question. The way we've described it in the report, we broke it into three key areas.

This idea that there are barriers to accessing capital. I think most people are aware that capital is difficult to access. That's true for many economic participants. But particularly true for First Nations businesses where they tend to be geographically disparate, located right across remote and regional Australia as well as of course in urban Australia. So that geographic distribution isn't easy for most corporates who tend to cling to their local environments.

There is also of course, and it's important to speak to the truth of these things, there are economic marginalisations and social inequities that apply. It's simply harder to get access to business partners and finance, to have the runs on the board to generate proof, to have corporate names and success stories that generate business and financial credibility. And frankly, again, speaking very truthfully, there is also discrimination. There's still a truth in this country, that makes it more difficult for First Nations businesses to access the right networks, to work in the systems of standard business and access the right relationships.

In addition to access barriers, there are also things like barriers to growth as well. Barriers to growth include things like access to education and business capability-building support, access to procurement networks and people resources. What we know about First Nations businesses is they tend to be very entrepreneurial and grow organically, learning on the job, which is fantastic but can limit scale, and can limit the way you grow.

Now we don't think any of these are unsolvable. These are matters of how we bring corporate Australia and good public policy into those conversations.

What opportunities is ANZ helping to unlock with First Nations businesses?

Shelley: The beauty of investing in and backing the First Nations economy is that it's not just good for First Nations people. It is good for investors, it is good for the bank, it's good for the Australian economy. And Deen spoke earlier about the slowdown in the national economy, the Australian economy. We know that the rate of growth of First Nations businesses is four times faster than the national average.

It can drive a success story for all of Australia. The benefits are not just for First Nations people. For investors, we're talking about a huge rate of growth that you'll be very hard pressed to find in any other sector in the Australian economy, but we also know that First Nations businesses are deeply and naturally collaborative. They have a different style of business; they have different style of leadership and ways of working.

As ANZ, one of the many ways we're looking to support this is by building our cultural intelligence. And that's not just about getting more First Nations people, more diverse people into our bank to help with that. It's about understanding different ways of working and relating to each other, and building new relationships.

This allows us to be better bankers, a better bank, and better colleagues to one another. It will deeply transform our bank, while at the same time, supporting First Nations people and business.

Alicia Muling is a Senior Writer at ANZ