Groote Eylandt and Enterprises Aboriginal Corporation (GEBIE) appreciates the opportunity to provide a brief submission to the Select Committee Inquiry on the effectiveness of the Australian Government’s Northern Agenda.

Incorporated as an Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) organisation on 12 December 2001, GEBIE was once the business arm of the Anindilyakwa Land Council (ALC). The ALC collects mining royalties from the Mining Company (GEMCO) which has been extracting high-grade manganese ore on Groote Eylandt since 1964. The GEMCO mine life is currently expected to finish in 10-12 years, depending on ore discovery in new leases.

GEBIE was separated from the ALC in 2013 to become an independent corporation with both Boards having separate Directors. GEBIE is the largest of 24 Indigenous corporations on the Archipelago, is 100% owned by the Anindilyakwa people and is one of the largest in the . It is a not- for-profit registered charitable organisation assisting the Traditional Owners of Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island to improve their social well-being. This includes operating enterprises and having a Constitution which includes strong social objectives.

Our subsidiaries include a 72-room resort (Groote Eylandt Lodge, including an Art Gallery leased to the Anindilyakwa Land Council), which was opened in 2008 and a civil/construction firm (GEBIE Civil & Construction – GCC including a large vehicle and plant workshop), and a company holding substantial plant and equipment for use by GCC.

We also operate the Community Development Program (CDP) for the Groote Archipelago and have a 130 miners camp which is leased to GEMCO. Overall, we employ 152 employees, with 38% Indigenous employment. We own a substantial land bank, 64 dwellings and 65 motor vehicles.

GEBIE is continually looking for business opportunities and joint ventures to sustain the Anindilyakwa people in the future. We have just completed building a commercial kitchen in Angurugu as part of a $2 million five-year program to improve the nutrition of the local people. This will allow the CDP to work closely with the Edge of Nowhere (EON) Foundation and to teach men and women to grow, harvest and cook nutritious food. EON have been invited into all three communities by the Traditional Owners. We are also nearing completion of a CDP Training Facility at Umbakumba.

We contributed $1.1 million to the sewerage extensions in Angurugu in 2016. In 2017 GCC built the $6 million Yinumarra Health Clinic in Umbakumba. GEBIE contributed $3 million to that project providing the community with a modern health clinic including men’s, women’s and children’s consulting areas, a dental room and renal facilities.

The GEMCO mine life is currently expected to finish in 10 years, depending on more manganese ore discovery in new leases. GEBIE is working towards securing a sustainable future for the Anindilyakwa people through profitable enterprises on the Archipelago.

There are two significant issues in the top end from our perspective. We have two unregulated monopoly players in remote Northern Australia, Telstra and Air North.

Telstra

Groote Eylandt has very poor telecommunications. From Alyangula, we have to make four or five calls if we wish to speak to someone in Angurugu as the signal continuously drops out and the call is disconnected. Bandwidth is a serious issue with speeds similar to dial up at times off the NBN satellite

service. Being a monopoly provider of telecommunications, the Telecommunications Universal Service Guarantee (USG) should be covering all areas in the North of Australia, especially those with just Telstra as the carrier. It should cover all types of telephony including data and internet, especially in remote areas where they are the only telco provider. These market challenges highlight the need for a continued focus on investment in infrastructure to enable economic development, particularly in remote Northern Australia.

Air North

Monopoly airline Air North is cancelling or delaying flights almost every day even before its US parent company Bristow Helicopters went into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The service has been unreliable for two years. This is having a dire effect on business in the region and personal passenger movements. On a regular basis, Air North disrupts flights by delaying, cancelling or grounding passenger aeroplanes. It has also had a negative effect on the nascent tourism industry on the Groote Archipelago.

The Lodge has two fishing charter boats to host domestic and international clients who come to Groote to fish and observe the pristine wilderness in all its beauty, to see the local Indigenous arts and crafts, visit cave paintings and other relevant landmarks. This is becoming difficult as at least one sector flying in/out is cancelled. Then there is the inevitable negative feedback posted on sites like Trip Advisor. There is no Regulator to force Air North to provide the basic services but we wish there was.

GEBIE and Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) Support

We note that we have read the Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) submission and support its contents.

GEBIE and IBA have enjoyed working in partnership over many years, with IBA providing support to GEBIE through its Investments and Business Solutions programs.

IBA assisted us by facilitating the development and implementation of our investment strategy. From this process we developed our investment principle, to lock the money away to fund our operations into the future. Armed with this knowledge, we decided to become a cornerstone investor in the Indigenous Real Estate Investment Trust (I-REIT). This has provided us with the opportunity to re- invest our returns back into our operations and social programs across Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island. Given our remote locality, there are limited opportunities available for Aboriginal organisations to access quality commercial advice and capability enhancing support, therefore the support from IBA has been invaluable.

We also lease vehicles and plant equipment through IBA, which has been vital to our operations. The flexible leasing options and attractive interest rates,have saved our organisation from having to outlay significant capital on depreciating assets, freeing up funds to invest in our important social programs.

This partnership has not only generated financial returns and savings, the flow on effect is the social impact on the Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Islander communities, as we can re-invest such funds.

Conclusion

The Northern Australia agenda focuses too heavily on land tenure and the perceived challenges with accessing capital, which GEBIE does not see as the major barrier to growing the North. Our partnership with IBA and the fact that GEBIE operates successful businesses on communal titled land, counters this assumption.

Instead, we believe that the focus and investment should be shifted to improving the basic infrastructure and market conditions, that will underpin the aspirations of the Anindilyakwa people, Indigenous peoples and the Northern Australian Agenda.

We would also like the Commonwealth Government to review the issues above to ensure that everything that can be done to improve this dreadful situation, will be done.