Dear Minister

Part 2: Our Performance

Highlights for 2010–11

Over 1.26m hectares of Indigenous-held land was subject to improved land management. Work included feral animal control, weed eradication, soil and water conservation, revegetation, fencing of sensitive cultural and environmental sites, wildfire management and provision of access roads.

Ownership of 15 properties was approved for granting to Indigenous corporations in rural, regional and urban Australia. Five new properties were acquired to achieve Indigenous benefits.

Operation of pastoral, tourism and agricultural businesses, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, provided direct employment for 135 Indigenous workers and accredited, paid, residential-based training for 188 Indigenous trainees.

The $3m Gunbalanya Pastoral and Meat Supplies enterprise, NT, was opened. The integrated cattle enterprise has already created 28 new Indigenous jobs and also takes cattle from Warrigundu Station – another ILC pastoral enterprise operated in partnership with the Minyerri community in the NT, which employed 25 Indigenous workers and trainees during the year.

Introduction

The ILC assists Indigenous people to acquire and manage land to achieve economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits. Each year, the ILC commits to achieving specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and deliverables, which are articulated in the Portfolio Budget Statements (PBS).

Progress indicators are used to systematically measure our performance against these KPIs (see Figure 3 on page 22 for an overview of the ILC’s purpose, priorities, indicators and output). The KPIs represent just some of the indicators that are used to measure the achievement of the ILC’s priority outcomes, and the long-term improvements in Indigenous wellbeing.

This section presents the results of our performance and describes the benefits achieved by Indigenous people this year.

• For the Land Acquisition Program, achieved benefit data is collected and reported for three years following the acquisition of a property. Where substantial funds have been spent by the ILC, benefits may be measured over a longer period of time; and

• For the Land Management Program, achieved benefit data is collected and reported for the duration of 
a project’s implementation.

Closing the Gap

The ILC’s achievement of Indigenous benefits in 2010–11 has contributed to Closing the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Benefits of ILC assistance extend across several targets of the Closing the Gap initiative, with a particular focus on:

• Halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade; and

• Halving the gap for Indigenous students in 
Year 12 attainment or equivalent attainment 
rates by 2020.

In the Prime Minister’s 2011 Closing the Gap speech, the ILC was mentioned for the crucial role it plays in Indigenous economic participation. For example, the acquisition of ARR, development of Mossman Gorge Tourism Centre and the establishment of Gunbalanya Meat Supplies were highlighted for the real jobs they seek to provide for Indigenous people.

The ILC’s NCIE was showcased in the 2011 Closing the Gap Prime Minister’s report, demonstrating the benefits delivered to Indigenous people through the range of social, community, health and educational programs at the centre.

The ILC’s Training to Employment Initiative on ILC pastoral businesses generates outcomes that have both direct and indirect impacts on Closing the Gap targets. An external evaluation identified that the ILC directly contributed to closing the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, by assisting trainees in gaining employment either with the ILC or with other industry employers. Indirectly, the Initiative increased the income of individuals, families and communities involved in the program.

Table 4: Summary of Performance Achieved Against the Key Performance Indicators and Targets in the 2010–11 Portfolio Budget Statements

Key Performance Indicators	Target 2010–11	Achieved 2010–11
1	Total number of Indigenous staff employed directly through ILC agricultural and tourism businesses	178	135
2	Total number of Indigenous trainees hosted through ILC agricultural and tourism businesses	200	188
3	Total number of Indigenous employment outcomes enabled through ILC land acquisition and land management projects*	300	1446
4	Total number of Indigenous training outcomes enabled through ILC land acquisition and land management projects*	600	4834
5	Increase in the number of Indigenous youth in regional Australia accessing education through hostels established by the ILC and other agencies	40	0
6	Total number of Indigenous-held properties with improved land management	100	162
7	Proportion of ILC-assisted projects that protected cultural and environmental heritage values or maintained culture	25%	31%
8	Proportion of projects that were collaborative with leveraged funding from other agencies	66%	69%

*These figures are aggregates of benefits enabled by land acquisition projects acquired within the last three years, and land management projects funded during the financial year.

Table 5: Summary of Performance Achieved Against the Deliverables and Targets in the 2010–11 Portfolio Budget Statements

Deliverables	Target 2010–11	Achieved 2010–11
1	Properties acquired for socio-economic development and cultural and environmental heritage protection	6	5
2	Properties granted	15	12
3	Employment and training projects implemented on ILC agricultural and tourism businesses	15	16
4	Regional land management projects implemented	15	21
5	Property-based and property management planning land management projects assisted	30	51
6	Properties acquired and/or secondary student hostels established	1	1

Chapter 2.1 – Performance achieved against Key Performance Indicators

Chapter 2.1 is structured by the ILC’s three priority outcomes and each associated KPI that measures achievement against these outcomes.

Priority Outcome 1: Access to and protection of cultural and environmental values

Efforts made by the ILC in achieving its priority outcome, protection of cultural and environmental values, are shown in KPI 7 and 6. The ILC is committed to assisting Indigenous people to acquire and manage land of cultural and environmental significance, and to protecting and maintaining the cultural and environmental values of land.

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KPI 7: Proportion of ILC-assisted projects that protected cultural and environmental heritage values or maintained culture

Target 2010–11: 25% Achieved 2010–11: 31%

31% (of all 153) Land Management and Land Acquisition projects protected cultural and environmental heritage values or assisted in the maintenance of culture.
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This target was exceeded by 6% in 2010–11, reflecting the ILC’s success in producing environmental and cultural benefits for Indigenous people through the land acquisition and land management programs. Protection of 401,210 ha of Indigenous held-land with environmental heritage values was assisted in the reporting period.

Seven land management projects saw 374 Indigenous people involved in protecting and restoring environmental heritage values, and 280 in 17 projects that maintained or revitalised cultural values.

Various activities were undertaken to protect/restore environmental heritage values and maintain/revitalise culture. For example, environmental activities on Fish River included buffalo removal, development of interim management guidelines, sacred site surveys, early dry season prescribed burning, weed surveying and removal. Indigenous people involved with maintaining or revitalising culture included ranger groups working to engage the younger generation in cultural activities in the NT as part of the FaHCSIA-funded Jobs Program.

ILC assistance enabled 739 Indigenous people to access traditional country. In the Boole Poole land management project alone, 279 Indigenous people attended events such as cultural camps, men’s group activities, peer gatherings and visits from Elders.

A project on Culpra Station in NSW involved seven Indigenous people in the protection of culturally significant sites.

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KPI 6: Total number of Indigenous-held propertiesassisted to improve land management

Target 2010–11: 100 Achieved 2010–11: 162
162 Indigenous-held properties with improved land management in 2010–11.
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Our performance for the number of Indigenous-held properties with improved land management in 2010–11 substantially exceeded the PBS target, with 162 Indigenous properties associated with Regional Land Management projects such as the Kimberley Indigenous Management Support Service (20 properties; page 82), Kimberley Weeds Project (19 properties; page 78), Indigenous Pastoral Project (16 properties; page 84) and the IPA Partnership Project (47 properties).

This year saw 1,264,800 ha of Indigenous-held land subject to improved land management, including 323,200 ha at Warrigundu Station, 154,300 ha at Banka Banka and 182,500 ha at Fish River. 27 land management events were undertaken on Indigenous-held land, including the development of property management plans and weed control activities.

Priority Outcome 2: Socio-economic development

The ILC believes training that leads to sustainable employment contributes significantly to achieving social and economic benefits. KPIs 1, 2 and 3 track our progress in achieving socio-economic development.

Employment and training activities on ILC Businesses

The ILC is committed to training and employing Indigenous Australians, and it sets targets for the direct employment and training of Indigenous staff through its agricultural and tourism businesses.

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KPI 1: Total number of Indigenous staff employed directly

through ILC agricultural and tourism businesses

Target 2010–11: 178 Achieved 2010–11: 135* (30 job guarantees)
135 Indigenous staff were employed directly on ILC agricultural and tourism businesses.

*As at 30 June, 30 Indigenous people from the Mossman Gorge area had signed up for the Job Guarantee Program at the Mossman Gorge tourism business and had commenced paid training and/or work placements in local tourism-related businesses. Participants are guaranteed a job at the Mossman Gorge tourism business when it opens in 2012.

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The ILC employed a total of 302 people across its businesses, of which 135 (45%) were Indigenous (Table 11). In addition, the ILC provided employment for 188 Indigenous trainees on ILC businesses and other ILC-operated properties (Table 8).

Table 6: Summary of 2010–11 Employment Outcomes.

	Non- Indigenous staff	Indigenous staff	Other Indigenous participants	Indigenous trainees hosted on ILC properties	Total Indigenous participants	Total staff and participants
2009–10	171	136	48	207	391	562
2010–11	167	135	23	188	346	513