Indigenous

A bill to officially recognise Aboriginal people in the Western Australian constitution has passed through state parliament.

Business News shines a light on four businesses operating in WA that have achieved the highest level of national recognition for increasing opportunities for indigenous Australians.

The Wirlu-murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation has continued to benefit from being one of Fortescue Metals Group’s preferred indigenous partners, having joined with Thiess to win an $85 million contract in the Pilbara.

One of WA’s largest Aboriginal corporations has been sharply divided as it seeks to deal with the impact of plunging iron ore revenue.

The state government has signed six historic indigenous land use agreements covering 200,000 square kilometres of the South West of Western Australia.

The federal and Western Australian governments will be forced to permanently shelve plans to close remote Aboriginal communities in WA, Greens leader Christine Milne said in Perth this morning.

A plan to grow the state’s Aboriginal tourism offerings relies heavily on corporate participation.

A new peak body representing rural Aboriginal art centres is hoping to attract corporate support for its role highlighting tourism and education opportunities.

One of the state’s largest Aboriginal contractors is seeking to establish a joint venture with the Republic of Guinea, to work on Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ore mines and its planned Simandou mine.

Rio Tinto and Alcoa of Australia have struck an agreement with the state government to terminate a bauxite mining joint venture on the Mitchell Plateau in WA's far north, paving the way for the area to be included in a new national park.

The federal government has responded to Andrew Forrest's Creating Parity review by announcing plans to award 3 per cent of all supply contracts, worth an estimated $135 million per year, to indigenous businesses.

Construction contracts worth $17.2 million have been awarded to four Broome businesses for a West Kimberley housing project that aims to benefit Aboriginal families.

Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation says it will continue to lobby and fight for the Aboriginal Heritage Act Amendment Bill, which is currently before parliament, to be re-drafted.

The Wirrpanda Foundation, which is one of nine Western Australian groups pioneering a new indigenous training and employment program in the state, has put contractors who over promise and under deliver on notice.

Facing a slowdown in mining-related construction work, indigenous contractors are diversifying into new fields, establishing joint ventures and highlighting their Aboriginal credentials. Click through to also see our BNiQ list of 25 major indigenous contractors in WA.

Australia’s only state-based not-for-profit indigenous tourism association is rolling out its new strategy and calling for support from local WA business.

A partnership between Wesfarmers and an indigenous art group has generated a new business opportunity.

The Western Australian government's flagged destruction of up to 150 remote indigenous communities is being widely condemned as harking back to assimilation days.

Rio Tinto has reinvested in its partnership with Aboriginal education group Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation, signing a three-year $2.7 million deal.

Two training facilities in the Kimberley will officially open this week after Training and Workforce Development Minister Kim Hames announced the completion of a $9.9 million redevelopment today.

The coal industry is getting its "mojo" back despite job losses, BHP Billiton chief executive officer Andrew Mackenzie says.

Respected Aboriginal leader Wayne Bergmann has launched an extraordinary attack on Buru Energy, after the oil and gas company announced a landmark agreement with the Noonkanbah Aboriginal community.

The Aboriginal community that was at the centre of a major land rights dispute, sparked by oil exploration at a remote Kimberley cattle station in the early 1980s, has announced its support for a gas 'fracking' program planned by Perth company Buru Energy.

Indigenous businesses are pushing for an increased emphasis on making the sector more sustainable in the wake of another significant native title settlement.

The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council says funds from a likely Native Title agreement with the state will provide its members with a much-needed boost for business development.

The Aboriginal educator is chasing significant growth buoyed by a boost in federal government funding.

BHP Billiton Iron Ore will today announce the doubling of its investment in scholarships for indigenous students in Western Australia.

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest will head up a federal government-initiated review into indigenous employment and training programs.

THURSDAY Island-based artist Brian Robinson has won the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award, receiving $50,000 in prize money.

One of Perth’s longest running private art businesses is restructuring to turn its main gallery space into a proposed artists’ collective, citing a crisis in the sector as rivals close their doors.

Perth-based energy infrastructure company ATCO Australia has announced it will support two new exhibitions to be presented by indigenous art group Nomad Two Worlds.

MORE than 100 pieces of indigenous art will return to Western Australia after Curtin University and New York's Colgate University signed a memorandum of agreement to return the works from the US.