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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees have earned more than $ 34mn in wages that directly impacts the community . At the same time , it ’ s not just about employing Indigenous people , it ’ s about empowerment — supporting and helping grow Indigenous businesses . In our last financial year , we ’ ve spent more than $ 24mn with Indigenous owned businesses . We operate on the basis that we ’ re not just treating this as a transactional relationship , we are mentoring and guiding the establishment of businesses or refining businesses process to be more commercially competitive .”
Chalmers explains many of these Indigenous businesses have gone on to become major suppliers of their products in the open market . “ One example is Yaru Water ,” he says . “ It is a provider of bottled water from fresh springs on Indigenous-owned land , that supplies to us across our network . Now its product sits on the supermarket shelf next to Coca-Cola and Pepsi .”
JANUARY 2020