But even among the contracts that were subject to Indigenous participation rules, just a fifth were actually assessed for compliance \u2014 with more than a quarter found to be non-compliant.<\/p>\n
Commonwealth contracts are subject to Indigenous participation rules if they exceed $7.5 million in value and more than half of that value is spent in a nominated industry in Australia \u2014 such as in construction, healthcare, industrial cleaning or wildlife management.<\/p>\n
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Construction is one of a number of sectors where Commonwealth contractors must comply with Indigenous participation rules, unless exempted. (AAP: Jono Searle)<\/p>\n
Auditors said contract exemptions were rising, and while some were legitimate exemptions, others were given with little explanation.<\/p>\n
“The inappropriate use of exemptions impedes achievement of the Indigenous Procurement Policy\u2019s objectives,” auditors said.<\/p>\n
“Systems have been set up to allow potentially invalid exemptions.”<\/p>\n
Exemptions for non-compliance, missing assessments, outdated guidance<\/p>\n
Of those contracts that were exempted from Indigenous participation rules, a third listed their reason for exemption under the category “other”.<\/p>\n
Auditors were told by the responsible agency, the National Indigenous Australians Agency, that contracts were sometimes exempted simply because they were “in practice non-compliant” with the rules.<\/p>\n
For example, between July 2016 and September last year $35 billion worth of Defence Department contracts were exempted \u2014 with more than half of those contracts listed as “other” as the reason for exemption.<\/p>\n