In the late 1980s the Hawke Labor Government introduced the Aboriginal Employment Development Policy which aimed to reduce the differences in socioeconomic status between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. One strategy for achieving this goal was to involve Indigenous people in businesses. This is not a new strategy and indeed, a number of similar economic programs have been in place over the last twenty years. However, many earlier business programs were marked by a lack of commercial success.

This report is the outcome of a scoping exercise commissioned by the National Water Commission (NWC) to determine the water licences and allocations to Indigenous people for commercial use across all States and Territories (except the Australian Capital Territory) in Australia. This preliminary study was carried out between mid December 2008 and early February 2009.

The empirical research reported here attempts to document for the first time actual allocations of water licences and entitlements to identified Indigenous users on a state-by-state jurisdictional basis.