NTIBN Response to the 2025-2026 Northern Territory Budget
The Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network (NTIBN) acknowledges the 2025-2026 Northern Territory Budget and the Finocchiaro Government’s efforts to address critical priorities for the Territory. We recognise the investments outlined in housing, health, education, and infrastructure as essential to improving the overall wellbeing of our people and communities.
However, from the perspective of Aboriginal business and economic development, the Budget once again falls short of delivering a bold and transformational commitment to growing the Aboriginal economy as a key economic pillar of the Northern Territory’s future. While funding allocations to Aboriginal housing, justice reinvestment, and local decision-making are welcomed, there is a notable absence of dedicated, long-term, and scalable investment in Aboriginal-led economic development, procurement reform, and Indigenous business capability building.
Aboriginal businesses in the Territory are not charity or social programs – we are employers, service providers, manufacturers, exporters, and investors. We generate real jobs, contribute to economic growth, and reinvest in our communities. Yet, the structural barriers to Aboriginal economic participation remain, including limited access to capital, government procurement practices that
favour large non-Indigenous contractors, and a lack of targeted industry development strategies for Aboriginal enterprises.
NTIBN calls on the NT Government to:
- Commit to a Whole-of-Government Aboriginal Economic Development Strategy with measurable targets, led by Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people.
- Expand Expand and enforce Aboriginal Procurement Policy targets across all agencies, ensuring not just contract awards, but real engagement with Aboriginal businesses in delivery.
- Support Aboriginal participation in emerging industries, including renewable energy, digital services, construction, and bush foods, through co-designed development plans and investment partnerships.
Our people have the talent, the solutions, and the drive to build a stronger Northern Territory economy. What we need is a government that sees us as partners, not just stakeholders. NTIBN remains committed to working with the NT Government to ensure that Aboriginal business is not an afterthought, but a central driver of the Territory’s prosperity.
NTIBN stands ready to lead this work in partnership with our people, our businesses, and the industries that understand the value of Aboriginal economic participation.
We extend an open invitation to government leaders to work with NTIBN and our peak partners at APO NT to make this ambition a reality.
For more information, please contact:
Naomi Anstess – Big Boss