Have you ever been unemployed? In March 2021 when I lost the state election, it was the first time in my life I didn’t have a job.
For more than half of my life I had known that I wanted to serve in Parliament. I worked tirelessly to realise the goal which culminated in me becoming one of the youngest leaders in the nation’s history… only to lead a losing battle against one of the most popular Premier’s in our country’s history.
The Sunday after the election I woke up without a job, without a sense of purpose or direction. The days drew to weeks and then to months. If you think suffering a defeat is bad, that endless and listless despair is so much worse.
For many of us, our identity comes from our work. It gives us a sense of identity and purpose. It is who we are.
So when nearly half of the Indigenous population doesn’t have a job, I have sympathy for what they experience because I’ve been there.
Unfortunately though it’s not a once-off job loss, but a compounded generational and structural unemployment which is bloody tough to get out of.
Our mob need jobs.
It’s one of the best ways to help close the Gap, to give a sense of place and foster a contribution to the betterment of the society which we all live in together.
The McGowan Government knew this when they introduced WA’s first Aboriginal Procurement Policy.
It might sound boring but the impact has been so profound that I would argue it is one Ben Wyatt’s most significant legacies.
In 2018 as Treasurer, Mr Wyatt introduced the policy which mandates targets for government contracts to be awarded to Aboriginal businesses.
The concept seemed simple enough but there became a real risk that either targets wouldn’t be met or worse that there would be some very expensive Welcome to Country ceremony’s to help artificially inflate an agency’s spend on Indigenous contracts.
Fast forward to 2022 and Mr Wyatt is no longer in parliament but his policy is reaping so much more benefit than anyone could expect it to sow.
On Thursday, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti announced that in the four years since the policy was implemented more than $821 million has been spent on contracts awarded to Aboriginal Businesses.
In 2021-22 alone, 119 Aboriginal businesses secured work exceeding the state’s target of 3 per cent of government spent to over 5.6 per cent.
After months of being unable to replace the sense of purpose politics gave me, I co-founded a building and electrical services company, Kolbang.
We now employ more than 40 Indigenous tradies and apprentices and are one of the largest all-Indigenous companies in the state.
The McGowan Government and Mr Wyatt knew then what I know now: Aboriginal businesses are more likely to support Aboriginal jobs.
The procurement policy Labor put in place hasn’t directly benefited our company but it has set an expectation across the market for the level of Indigenous engagement.
It has super-charged a maturity and diversification of Aboriginal businesses in WA which would not have happened without the policy.
The McGowan Government should be applauded for what it has achieved and moreover the policy should be replicated not just across government but the private sector too.
By working together, we’re going to make sure that we can give every possible opportunity for Indigenous people or their businesses to get ahead and break out of the cycle of poverty and inequality and in the scheme of things, there are fewer things more important than that.
- Zak Kirkup is of Yamatji heritage and is the former leader of the Liberal Party in Western Australia
