New Ambassador for business to help close the gap

A new Government Ambassador for Business Action has been appointed to encourage Australian business to play a part in the economic development of Indigenous communities.

During his Closing the Gap statement to Parliament today, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of Mr Colin Carter to this important role.

The Business Ambassador will be at the forefront of the Australian Government’s efforts to encourage the private sector to play an active role in Indigenous employment.

Mr Carter will visit corporate leaders across the country and encourage the private sector to share their extensive experience with Indigenous communities to help set up and grow their own businesses.

Mr Carter brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position. He was a founding partner of Boston Consulting Group, is a current director of the Cape York Institute for Indigenous Policy and Leadership and a director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships.

He is a strong advocate for the role Australian business can play in helping Indigenous people overcome disadvantage.

He will work with the corporate sector to build relationships between Indigenous communities and leading Australian businesses through staff secondments. These staff will work within Indigenous community organisations and provide advice to help develop new business opportunities and strengthen corporate governance.

In his role as Director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, Mr Carter was involved in an initiative where executives from a range of leading Australian corporations worked in Indigenous organisations in Cape York and the Goulburn-Murray region.

Through this initiative the business and the community sector worked together to establish tourism operations, provide scholarships for local school students and develop voluntary income management schemes for local families.

We are delighted Mr Carter has agreed to this new position and look forward to working with him to tackle the challenges of Indigenous economic development.

This new role will be established under the Rudd Government’s Business Action Agenda. We have committed $3 million over four years towards the agenda, which was first announced in the 2009-10 Budget.