Australian corporations? treatment of Indigenous customers to be investigated by inquiry - The Guardian Australia

After a series of high-profile cases of corporate failures, the way big businesses in Australia treat Indigenous customers will be examined by a parliamentary inquiry.

The destruction of Juukan Gorge by Rio Tinto was one of the most recent inexcusable acts, but it is not alone. Woolworths was forced to abandon plans to build a liquor warehouse near three dry Aboriginal communities. Earlier this year, Telstra was fined $50m by the federal court which found it had exploited Indigenous customers by signing them up for phone contracts they could not understand or afford.

Each time, the onus has been on Indigenous communities to raise the alarm and bring wider attention to the issue.

The minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, now wants how corporations engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers to be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

The House Indigenous Affairs Committee, headed by Liberal MP Julian Leeser will investigate the issue, building on recent inquiries looking at Indigenous employment and small business, as well as the inquiries into some recent examples of corporate treatment of Indigenous consumers and communities.

“I think effectively, corporate Australia needs to not only talk the talk, they need to walk the walk as well,” Leeser said.

“What we are looking at here is how corporate Australia engages in a meaningful way with Indigenous consumers and what we can do to encourage greater cultural understanding among the corporate sector of Indigenous consumers - not only where there has been bad practice, but also looking at where there has been best practice - particularly the impact of Reconciliation Action Plans in changing and improving the culture generally.”