At the annual Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining, Energy and Exploration conference the MCA called on Indigenous businesses and governments to consider equity frameworks alongside procurement frameworks. From contracts to capital. From participation to ownership. Indigenous businesses are leading the next chapter and the resources industry is here to partner, invest, and support.
Good morning.
I want to start by thanking the Larrakia Nation for their gracious welcome to your lands and waters. I am humbled to be on your Country and to temporarily walk in the footsteps of your ancestors.
Many thanks to Derek, the AEMEE Board and Jyi for the opportunity to speak here today, and I would also like to acknowledge the MCA member companies and the MCA NT team here at the conference.
I'm Matt Denyer, Principal Adviser - Indigenous Partnerships and Communities at the Minerals Council of Australia. I am a Gomeroi man currently living on Ngunnawal country and born on the lands of the Giabal and Jarowair peoples of the Darling Downs.
Share of economic wealth
We've come a long way. Through Indigenous procurement, we've proven what is possible. The people in this room have built capability, delivered results, and changed the face of the Australian resources sector. And it is something we should be proud of.
But we are at a crossroads, and the time is to look further. We know that participation alone isn't power, and visibility isn't value. The next chapter is about ownership, equity and intergenerational prosperity. It is about Indigenous enterprises not just being a part of someone else's story but co-owners of its future.
In 2024-25, total reportable Indigenous-business procurement has reached $5.83 billion across Australia. Of that, the mining sector alone accounted for approximately $1.64 billion or 28 per cent.
Meanwhile, MCA members directly employ approximately 6,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with the average annual mining industry salary in Australia being $158,800. And we know the minerals export economy in Australia was valued at approximately $405 billion in 2023-24. These are real numbers. They show progress.
But they also highlight the disparity between the scale of resource wealth and the share of economic ownership held by Indigenous enterprises. If we are standing here in five years telling the same story "we won more contracts", we will have failed. Because the world will have moved ahead, but Indigenous business will still be in supply-chain mode - not in ownership mode.
A reform crossroad
Today, we are at a crossroads with reform. The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is currently before the Parliament for debate. There are plans to modernise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. The Australian Law Reform Commission is reviewing the Future Acts regime, with all indications pointing towards making native title a foundation for economic participation instead of a barrier. And right here in the Northern Territory, the Coordinator-General for Major Projects and the revised Sacred Sites Act offer a framework for responsible, timely investment.
While some in this room may disagree, the MCA contends that these reforms are not roadblocks: they are opportunities for Indigenous businesses to reap the rewards of investment and co-ownership in our rich and vast mineral reserves. They offer Indigenous enterprises a chance to step into the driver's seat of investment and ownership.
We have heard from the Australian superannuation industry and international investors like the European Investment Bank that projects with cultural certainty, regulatory clarity and early Indigenous leadership will attract capital. Others are likely to be left behind, and we can't afford to keep ignoring compelling opportunities for economic and community development.
Time for different approaches
We need to think differently on several fronts. This means taking the next step into co-investment, through three clear pathways: owning the licence, co-owning the infrastructure, and building the capability to lead.
Firstly, Indigenous enterprises must be explorers and mining tenement titleholders, not just subcontractors. This journey involves holding exploration licences and converting them to mining or petroleum leases. We have seen time and time again that early collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people mitigates heritage concerns and native title objections. Now imagine the possibilities in the monumental shift of having Indigenous businesses undertaking mineral exploration activities. That changes both the game and the value chain because when you're exploring, you're not chasing contracts: you're building ownership.
Secondly, co-investment in processing and regional infrastructure should be considered given the potential for Indigenous enterprises to co-own processing plants, logistics hubs and energy systems in their regions. That captures downstream value, reduces mining costs, embeds wealth locally. The capital exists in vehicles such as the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, the Future Made in Australia framework and Indigenous Business Australia to support equity, not just procurement. We must use these vehicles to invest so that contracts become assets and suppliers become shareholders, an approach which I'm looking forward to hearing more on from the speakers after me.
Third: as we heard from Brad Welsh yesterday, capability and governance must be scaled up. The mining industry is undergoing transformation from automation, digital operations and alternative energy through to the processing and marketing of critical minerals. If Indigenous enterprises invest in technical skills, governance, financial literacy, this gives them the ability to be investment-grade: to lead, to own and to create a lasting legacy for the communities we all belong to.
Where the risk is
Doing nothing, or only more of the same, has real consequences. The numbers are impressive by themselves, but we need much more to create genuine shared prosperity. We have $1.64 billion in mining procurement - that's good. We have average mining salaries of $158,800 - that's great. And we have a massive mining export economy valued at $405 billion.
Yet we have only one Indigenous-led mine, no Indigenous-owned minerals processing facilities and no Indigenous capital funds capturing meaningful shares of that value. That gap is risk, because while resource value flows, its legacy flows elsewhere. It means participation without equity, and dependency not independence. From contracts to assets. From opportunity to ownership. That is how Indigenous enterprises will turn today's progress into tomorrow's intergenerational wealth.
If Indigenous businesses were to capitalise on a stake of just one per cent of the total mining export value, that is approximately $4 billion a year from co-ownership in one industry, on top of ever-increasing procurement opportunities. The risk is real: ownership will go to those ready to take it.
The capital will flow to those deemed investment ready, and the regions that capture value will be the ones led by Indigenous partnership from the start, not brought in at the end.
The clarion call
So our challenge to Indigenous businesses and Traditional Owners today is this: don't wait for someone to offer you a contract. Design the partnership. Hold the licence. Build the plant. Own the asset. Scale governance. Train people. Lead exploration. Convert those exploration leases into mining and petroleum leases and co-invest in the infrastructure that delivers regional value.
Think big, because intergenerational wealth will not come from small incremental contracts: it comes from scalable assets and ownership. And our challenge for all governments is to support a shift from procurement frameworks to equity frameworks. Back Indigenous co-investment with capital, not through an endless cycle of grant funding rounds.
Government agencies should be structured to work with IBA to finance Indigenous-owned assets and ensure policy supports investment-readiness and long-term capability, not just short-term buy-in.
The Australian mining industry is ready to partner because co-ownership isn't charity - it is the smartest commercial strategy. Projects with genuine Indigenous equity and leadership have lower risk, stronger social licence and longer lifespans for scalable Indigenous enterprises.
We must align our strategy with Indigenous enterprise ownership, not only because it's the right thing, but because it's the only thing that will deliver the future we all want.
Legacy
We have proven what we can achieve when opportunity meets capability. Now the next steps are contracts to capital, from participation to ownership. Procurement has opened the door to everyone in this room to invest in Indigenous businesses. Co-investment and co-ownership of assets will build the house, the roof over the table, the foundation beneath it, and the legacy it will hold for generations.
This is our moment to invest, to build, to own, to lead. To move from being part of the story shaping the future of Australia's economy.
As partners and co-owners of the resources, and as the architects of enduring prosperity for the next generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who follow us.
Thank you to everyone in this room. The leaders, the businesses and the communities proving that our future isn't something we just participate in, it is something we own. Together we are showing that prosperity is being built before our eyes.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of the conference.
