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What are ILC Businesses?

The ILC has 15 businesses across Australia, ranging from large-scale beef cattle operations on Cape York, pastoral-based tourism in the Kimberly, to a merino wool and sheep meat business on Bruny Island in Tasmania. They are operated as commercial enterprises, utilising sound business principles. Each business is profiled elsewhere on this website.

What are their key objectives?

The businesses have been established to:

• Assist Indigenous landowners to bring Indigenous-held land back into production;
• Provide industry-based training to enable employment in mainstream businesses;
• Provide unique, residential, industry-based training facilities.

The National Indigenous Land Strategy 2007-2012 continues to emphasise education, training and employment as the key priority issues for the ILC and this is reflected in the operations of the ILC businesses. See the ILC Agricultural Businesses Strategic Plan 2007-2012 (616 kb)

The ILC Board considers that Indigenous people, particularly in rural and remote Australia, are an untapped workforce that could readily fill vacancies in these areas in the pastoral, tourism, horticulture, mining and resource sectors. Consequently, the ILC believes that its business operations are a crucial element in creating employment and making people job-ready by providing accredited on-the-job training for Indigenous people.

The ILC works closely with DEEWR, industry groups and group training organisations to provide accredited training and industry-recognised skills development so people can take up paid employment either on ILC properties or within mainstream industry sectors.

What are their key outcomes?

The ILC directly employed a total of 71 Indigenous people in its businesses in 2008-09 and hosted 116 Indigenous trainees. The businesses also provided further employment for 116 Indigenous people in a number of other capacities, for example Indigenous justice program work camps, as employees of contractors, through work experience placements. A total of 259 Indigenous participants benefited directly from the operations of ILC businesses in 2008-09. 

Across the 10 cattle producing businesses, the herd grew over the 2008-09 year from 66,181 head to 80,890 head and the value of the herd increased by $4.8 million to $26.2 million.  The cattle herd made a trading gross profit of $3.35 million.

Of the ILC's 15 businesses, six are fully operational: Roebuck Plains, Crocodile/Welcome, Myroodah, Cardabia, Murrayfield and Mimosa. These are businesses that the ILC has owned and operated for a number of years.

In addition, the ILC has nine start-up businesses; Home Valley, Crocodile/Welcome, East Elsey, Bulimba, Merepah, Urannah, Boundary Bend and Waliburru (formerly known as Hodgson Downs) and Roebuck Export Depot.  These are businesses on which the ILC commenced operations only in the last two to three years and, as a result, they are still becoming established.  They have a low income earning capacity, but generated significant employment and training opportunities in 2008-09.

Considerable development work has been carried out on the start-up properties to enable them to operate as viable businesses.  In 2008-09, they generated employment and training opportunities for 42 Indigenous employees and 46 trainees, and helped secure employment with mainstream contractors for 50 Indigenous people.