From Afterthought to Economic Powerhouse: IBA’s Next Chapter

By Darren Godwell MHK FAIIA | Chair, Indigenous Business Australia (IBA)

NAIDOC Week 2025 arrives at a defining moment for Indigenous economic participation in Australia. As Chair of Indigenous Business Australia, I had the privilege of addressing our staff during this historic week under the theme “The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy". This theme is more than symbolic. It captures the essence of the transformation now underway within IBA and across the wider Indigenous economic landscape.

This year marks a turning point in how Australia supports, enables, and partners with Indigenous peoples on their economic journey. Through recent legislative reforms, IBA has been fundamentally repositioned, from a concessional lender to a capital markets participant, from facilitator to active investor. This evolution is neither cosmetic nor administrative; it is structural and generational. We are witnessing the emergence of IBA as an Indigenous economic powerhouse.

1. IBA’s Transformation into an Indigenous Economic Powerhouse

The expansion of IBA’s legislative authority in February of this year, was a watershed moment in national economic policy. Parliament’s decision to expand IBA’s powers - empowering it to access capital markets, make direct investments, and deploy specialist financial products -signals a new maturity in Australia’s approach to Indigenous economic inclusion.

IBA is no longer simply a lender of concessional finance. With a $2 billion asset base, it now has the scale, legislative backing, and strategic ambition to play an active role in major national projects, from renewable energy zones and defence infrastructure to agricultural investments and social infrastructure such as housing, facilities for aged and assisted care. This expansion honours IBA’s original legislative purpose:

• (a) to advance the economic self-sufficiency of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and
• (b) to accumulate and deploy a substantial capital asset in service of that goal.

Australia's broader productivity agenda, seeks to remove friction in high-value chokepoints and create new engines of economic growth. IBA is now structurally equipped to help deliver on that agenda. By enabling Indigenous Australians to shift from stakeholders to shareholders, from hosts of other peoples’ development to co-owners in transformative national initiatives.

2. New Investment Architecture Grounded in Capability, Partnership, and Performance

The expanded IBA is building an investment architecture that will endure and scale. This means growing our capital base, building internal project finance capability, and creating the governance frameworks that will attract institutional co-investment. It also means forging strategic partnerships with capability partners across Australia’s banking and investment sectors and internationally.

We draw inspiration from international models. The First Nations Finance Authority in Canada has raised over $CAD2.5 billion and achieved investment-grade credit ratings, enabling Indigenous participation in more than half of Canada’s renewable energy projects. In the United States, Alaska Native Corporations generate over $USD10.5 billion in annual revenues. Proof that Indigenous-controlled institutions can be commercially viable while remaining true to cultural priorities.

Indigenous Australia must resume its own version of this model. IBA will build Sector-Specific Investment Platforms in priority areas such as energy, mining, defence, agriculture, and infrastructure. These platforms will allow us to aggregate capital, reduce transaction friction, and create deal-flow that is both Indigenous-led and investment-ready. They will unlock long-standing, unmet infrastructure needs in regional economies and enable Traditional Owners to drive their own development agendas, particularly in remote and regional economies.

Moreover, our international linkages are growing. IBA is strengthening ties with the OECD, the World Bank, and APEC - global institutions that are increasingly recognising Indigenous economic inclusion as an economic priority. These relationships will bring technical expertise, policy frameworks, and professional exchange opportunities that will enhance IBA’s institutional maturity and leadership capacity.

Internally, we are also setting clear expectations for a performance-driven culture. We are investing in staff development, encouraging innovation, and embedding an ethos of excellence. The future of Indigenous investment will be shaped by those who can blend cultural authenticity with financial expertise. Our staff are being asked to step into that space.

3. A National Economic Agenda That Centres Indigenous Interests

For generations, Indigenous Australia has been marginal to the nation’s economic development frameworks. But that era is ending. With the Government’s announcement of a first-ever National Indigenous Economic Framework in last year’s MYEFO, and the links of IBA to Treasury and Finance portfolios, Indigenous participation is now a central feature of national economic planning.

This is not about special pleading. It is about recognising that Indigenous economic inclusion creates better outcomes for everyone. It improves investment certainty, enhances project resilience, and embeds social licence from the outset. When Indigenous participation becomes standard practice - rather than a compliance measure - it ceases to be a side program and becomes embedded business-as-usual.

This is how we move from afterthought to core. And it is why IBA’s future lies in partnerships with Treasury, Finance, and the Reserve Bank of Australia – the principal economic agencies of government. We must think and act as a specialist capital provider, a partner in national productivity, and an engine of Indigenous-led development. In short, we are evolving into an Indigenous development finance institution - rooted in Australian soil but linked to global best practice.

Your Role in This Journey

In this moment of transformation, I extend a genuine invitation: whether you're an IBA staff member, a Traditional Owner, an investment partner, or a policymaker - your contribution matters.

We ask our people to lead with capability, embrace a service-oriented attitude, and measure their performance by tangible outcomes for Indigenous communities. We ask our partners to walk with us in designing capital solutions that align commercial viability with intergenerational wealth creation. And we ask the broader nation to recognise that Indigenous participation is not a cost - it is a catalyst for a better Australia.

The infrastructure is being built. The legal mandate is in place. The economic possibilities for our children are within reach for Indigenous Australia.

Happy NAIDOC Week!