Indigenous Australians and self-employment

Indigenous Australians have long been regarded as a disadvantaged group in Australian society, and have found it difficult to compete with other Australians for employment opportunities. As pointed out by the Miller Report (1985) Aboriginal society has been through the stages associated with expropriation involving dispossession, dispersal and destruction of their traditional economic base. In many areas this destruction has been characterised by a dependence on government services and programs as a replacement for the previously productive economic system of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society. As productive employment opportunities disappeared for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, there has been a natural and increasing dependence on social welfare, in order to survive.