WELCOME TO 
INDIGENOUS BUSINESS AUSTRALIA
IBA acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea, and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, to the Elders past, present, and emerging.
CONTINUE
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, names and voices of deceased people.

Has your home or business been impacted by the recent bushfires to parts of the Central Highlands in Tasmania?

If you have an IBA home loan or business finance product and have been impacted by this weather event, we want to reassure you and your family that IBA is here in times of need.

Customers impacted by the recent natural disaster can apply for an emergency natural disaster relief grant – $5,000 for IBA business finance customers and/or $2,000 for IBA home loan customers.

All eligible customers should have received a direct link via SMS or email with information about how to apply. Applications accepted until midnight 15 May 2024, or until funds are exhausted (whichever comes first).

Additional information and resource links are below:

Has your home or business been impacted by the cyclone in Queensland or the storms and flooding in Victoria?

If you have an IBA home loan or business finance product and have been impacted by either of these weather events, we want to reassure you and your family that IBA is here in times of need.

Customers impacted by the recent natural disaster can apply for an emergency natural disaster relief grant – $5,000 for IBA business finance customers and/or $2,000 for IBA home loan customers.

All eligible customers should have received a direct link via SMS or email with information about how to apply.

QLD Grant Applications accepted until midnight 29 March 2024, or until funds are exhausted (whichever comes first).

VIC Grant Applications accepted until midnight 12 April 2024, or until funds are exhausted (whichever comes first).

 

Additional information and resource links are below:

The interest rates for some of IBA business loans are changing based on market conditions.

All impacted customers will be notified in writing about the change to their interest rate and loan repayment amount. Interest rate changes will come into effect on 28 February 2024.

IBA Business Solutions has a range of resources available on our website including workshops to assist you manage your loan and review your budgeting and financial management skills.

We’re always here to help. If you have any concerns about managing your business loan repayments or are experiencing financial difficulty, please call us on 1800 107 107 to discuss your circumstances, or submit an online enquiry form to arrange for someone to contact you.

 

About Jessica  

Jess on one of her amazing adventures 

I am a proud Wiradjuri woman who grew up on Lake Macquarie (Awabakal Country) where I met my now husband. I currently live near Canberra with my husband and two beautiful daughters. While I consider myself a homebody, I enjoy going on hikes wherever I am. Hiking provides me with an opportunity to reconnect with nature and to be present in the moment, either with myself or with friends and loved ones. 

What is your role at IBA? 

I am a Risk & Compliance Officer in the Legal & Risk Team. My team and I assist with IBA’s processes, policies, systems, and controls aimed at better managing risk and compliance obligations at IBA. We work closely with IBA’s Board, Executive and staff at all levels to provide high quality risk management and compliance support.  

Our ultimate goal is to ensure our staff are managing their compliance requirements in the most risk-aware manner possible to look after our customers. We do that through policy procedures, as well as the necessary training – all of which I get to have a hand in.  

It might seem boring to some, but I know how important this stuff is and it makes me feel good to be part of looking after our staff and customers. 

Journey to IBA 

I completed a traineeship course in year 11 and 12 with a ‘big four’ bank. Once I graduated from high school, I continued working in the banking industry while attending university, where I studied a business degree at the University of Newcastle. 

As I was heading towards the end of my degree, I found a notice for the IBA Graduate Program on UNE’s noticeboard. After some research I immediately resonated with IBA's purpose and values. I loved the idea of giving back to community and knew IBA was a place that I wanted to work at because of what it was and is doing for mob.  

After being successfully selected for the graduate program in 2015, I started in the Quality Assurance team and also had a rotation in the Communications team. Following the successful completion of the graduate program I worked in Quality Assurance, as a Principal Quality Assurance Officer and Manager Quality Assurance for five and a half years.  

Towards the end of 2021, I joined the Risk & Legal team as a Risk and Compliance Officer and have been working here ever since.  

Why IBA  

I love what IBA has to offer and the amazing work we do. I enjoy being part of an organisation which gives back to community and works with its customers to provide them the tools they need to be successful in their home ownership or business ownership journey. 

What TV show or movie is on repeat and why?  

I absolutely love Brooklyn Nine-Nine it’s a comedy series about the Brooklyn Police Department. The show is light-hearted, fun, and funny. It’s a show that allows you to disconnect and enjoy the present moment.  

IBA CEO Kirsty Moore and Chair Eddie Fry spoke with Australian Institute of Company Directors on how IBA is working toward the economic empowerment of First Nations communities. The resulting article describes IBA's 'powerful activities' which has transformed the dream of home ownership into reality, for 21,000 owner-occupier Indigenous families and individuals.

See full article below, which appeared on the AICD website.

Closing the gap in First Nations futures

Home ownership. For many First Nations Australians, it’s a dream which will only ever remain out of reach and a remote fantasy. But for 21,000 owner-occupier Indigenous families and individuals, it’s an idea which has at last actually transformed into reality, due to powerful activities by federal agency Indigenous Business Australia (IBA).

Roughly, we are nearing 5,000 home loans nationally at this point in time,” IBA CEO Kirsty Moore GAICD told the AICD in a recent interview in Perth. “And we continue to have very, very strong demand.

“The Indigenous home ownership program is the longest running program in the Indigenous affairs portfolio and it's been around for almost 50 years.”

According to the 2021 census, only 41 per cent of First Nations people own their own homes, compared to 66 per cent of non-First Nations people. “So there's a gap,” says Moore. It's a real gap in home ownership. For as long as that gap exists, IBA will need to play a role in in providing that finance where the mainstream banks won't.

“The need for that finance isn't just the fact that our customers live in maybe regional and remote areas where banks do not lend… but it's also because they don't have the bank of Mum and Dad. They don't have that intergenerational asset to support them. And they don't necessarily have role models in their community to look at - people who've owned a property.”

A happy IBA customer at her new home.

IBA also finances First Nations businesses. These range from small businesses such as Kakadu Kitchen, a non-alcoholic drinks entity with a store in Humpty Doo, and Mack Construction NT, a design and construction service, through to bigger enterprises such as the Centre for Appropriate Technology in Alice Springs, Warialda Engineering and Welding based in NSW, and Wilpena Pound Resort in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.

IBA has also invested in building a new cucumber farm in Geraldton, Western Australia, and greenhouses are currently being constructed, according to Moore. “It’s part of a native title settlement with the state of Western Australia and we have had some extensive investment into that. The intent is that it will become Australia's largest cucumber farm.”

IBA is working with First Nations organisations across Australia and has joined forces with Export Finance Australia to empower First Nations companies to build their capacity to enter international markets.

IBA has an investment pipeline manages a portfolio of co-investments with Indigenous organisations valued at over $500 million, including direct investments, managed funds and a real estate investment trust. According to the IBA 2023-2024 Corporate Plan, IBA currently has $2 billion in net assets, which it aims to grow to $2.5 billion by 2028.

IBA Chair Eddie Fry, a Dagoman-Wardaman man from the Katherine region in the Northern Territory, told the AICD that IBA has already doubled net assets from $1.15 billion in 2014 to around $2 billion now. “We have cleaned up a lot of non-performing assets and we also have a board that clearly understands the commercial marketplace,” he said.

“We got smarter at doing business. In 2017, we made a massive leap from about 450 home loans to about over 900 in that one year.”
Management culture has also changed both at board level and at the operational level and offices such as the ACT have been downsized. “I would suggest we've taken on a greater corporate and operational approach than we used to have.”

The future
Over the next five years, IBA will facilitate new investment opportunities and new partnership arrangements to increase wealth and assets. It has boosted this work through recent partnership activity with the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), Housing Australia, and Export Finance Australia (EFA), and in strategic banking partnerships with Australian Unity and Bank Australia.

According to the 2021 national census, there are now nearly one million First Nations people in Australia. The population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now sits at around 984,000.

However, high interest rates and high property prices are making home ownership a more difficult proposition for many First Nations people.
“I think a big challenge going forward is to see how IBA can exceed what market conditions are currently determining. In the previous two years, house prices have just skyrocketed. Therefore, that’s going to impact on the ability of our buyers to borrow,” says Fry.

Because first homebuyers are struggling to find properties to purchase, IBA launched in August a shared equity program, which combines a finance option with an IBA home loan. The borrowing capacity of customers is increased, so they do not need to buy smaller properties than they need. “They still borrow the same amount, but by IBA putting in an equity contribution, the customer can hopefully buy a more appropriate home in a better location, with proximity to amenity and family, community in particular,” says Moore.

She says the focus on regional areas is important. Over 60 per cent of the home loan book of IBA is in regional Australia, mostly Queensland and NSW, she says. About 10 per cent is in remote areas, mainly in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

“That's where the IBA business investment activity comes in, because we believe that if we can create local economic development, that will create opportunities for people ultimately to take control of their own futures.

“We know that home ownership provides security. A roof over your head. We also know this concept of passing assets onto kids really resonates strongly with our customer base, who want to give their kids a bright future. So they want to own a home, and they want to pass on the home. They want those kids to know that they can lay their roots in that place.”

She says IBA is governed by federal legislation and is obliged to make sustainable investment decisions to ensure that when lending to customers, the risks of ultimate financial losses are minimised through good customer support and sensible lending decisions in the first place.

“It is the IBA support which is the bit that creates success,” says Moore. “So it's the support around readiness to enter into that financial commitment in the first place. And making sure that if somebody is going to buy a house, they really understand the obligations of home ownership, that they really understand what it will mean and how they're going to withstand certain pitfalls that might come – that they have financial literacy. We support them through the customer journey for the entire length of the loan.”

UK-born Moore became CEO of IBA in May 2021, after starting as IBA Head of Products and Markets in early 2018. Driven by a passion to help people who need support, she has lived experience of difficulty with home ownership and brings this understanding to her role.

“I think part of my motivation is the fact that I come from disadvantage myself. My family come from a social housing background in the UK and I understand about opportunity. So, for me, I really want to support a cohort of society that needs assistance. It’s really as simple as that.”

Role of the board
The IBA board is composed of majority First Nations members alongside non-Indigenous members – all with business expertise. “Our board understands our customer base, so they understand some of the challenges that sit in community, they understand some of the issues of intergenerational trauma and they understand the concept of a proper fair go,” says Moore.

“They don't want IBA to be purely giving handouts. They want IBA to be investing with people who are ready to actually have a bit of gumption and go forward and take control of their own economic future.”

The board is also heavily focussed on cyber security and in 2021 created an IT subcommittee. “This is a new thing that we put in place a couple years ago in response to the need to make sure technology starts at the board level.

It recognises that we do need to have modern day banking systems, and appropriate data protection in place,” she says.

The board has also driven and monitored a significant digital transformation to update IT and core business systems. “We went from having quite old-fashioned IT systems to being on the cusp of having a modern-day banking system that is used by mainstream financial services institutions. The board has supported the organisation to do that and played an active role in the oversight of that initiative.”

The board is very engaged on the subject of cyber security, inquisitive and keen to understand it, she says. “They're definitely not passive when it comes to technology and implications of cyber and customer protection in general.

“Remember that we are here not only to deal with very sensitive information pertaining to the most disadvantaged but there's also a reputational risk to the Commonwealth government, if we get it wrong.”

Has your home or business been impacted by the cyclone in Queensland?

If you have an IBA home loan or business finance product and have been impacted by this weather events, we want to reassure you and your family that IBA is here in times of need.

Customers impacted by the recent natural disasters can apply for an emergency natural disaster relief grant – $5,000 for IBA business finance customers and/or $2,000 for IBA home loan customers.

All eligible customers should have received a direct link via SMS or email with information about how to apply. Applications accepted until midnight 29 March 2024, or until funds are exhausted (whichever comes first).

Additional information and resource links are below:

Feeling fresh? So are Yamatji Enterprises Limited (YEL), 4 Ways Fresh Produce and IBA. The parties have formed a joint venture company to establish a cucumber farm in Geraldton, Western Australia, creating a legacy for traditional owners.

The company, Yamatji Fresh Produce Pty Ltd, will develop 400 greenhouses to grow cucumbers making it the largest grower in Australia. It will also consider growing other crops such as tomatoes, eggplants and capsicum to fill the national supply gap. The joint venture will provide job opportunities for the community – creating a lasting legacy for generations to come.

In 2022, Yamatji and IBA acquired two adjacent parcels of land in Geraldton WA. Construction of a horticultural facility began in 2023. The first 125 greenhouses are expected to be completed in 2024 and another 125 greenhouses will follow in 2025.

One of the major highlights of last fiscal year was achieving development approval. Navigating through the regulatory landscape was no small feat, but we secured the green light to move ahead with the project. This milestone has paved the way for us to turn our vision into reality, and we cannot wait to see the transformation of the land into a flourishing cucumber haven.

Another significant achievement was the completion of the fencing work around the block. Not only was the completion of the fencing work a significant milestone in our project’s development, but it also represented a crucial achievement in our commitment to First Nations procurement. It marked the first of many First Nations–led contracts we are expecting to secure and deliver.

In addition, groundwork officially commenced with the construction of the dam, which will be the lifeblood of the facility, providing a reliable and efficient irrigation system to support the growth of our cucumber crops. As we dug the foundations, we knew that we were digging the foundations of a brighter future for the Yamatji community. We also initiated the construction of other essential facilities, including the ablution block, an integral part of the working environment for our future employees.

With the first 125 greenhouses under construction, we can already visualise the thriving fields of cucumbers awaiting us in the upcoming harvest. Once built, the facility will be able to produce roughly 1,700 t of cucumbers per annum.

Pictured: Vu Phan, Yamatji Operations Manager (Left) and Zane Pratt, Senior Analyst at IBA (Right)

Has your home or business been impacted by recent severe storms and rainfall in Southern QLD?

If you have an IBA home loan or business finance product and have been impacted by rain or storm damage, we want to reassure you and your family that IBA is here in times of need.

Customers impacted by the recent natural disasters can apply for an emergency natural disaster relief grant – $5,000 for IBA business finance customers and/or $2,000 for IBA home loan customers.

All eligible customers should have received a direct link via SMS or email with information about how to apply. Applications accepted until midnight 15 March 2024 for the recent areas impacted, or until funds are exhausted (whichever comes first).

There are also applications still open for customers impacted in previous weather conditions around NSW and QLD. Please check the links below for applicable areas.

Additional information and resources:

Our last e-newsletter for 2023 is out now! You can read it online here.

It’s been a massive year for IBA and our customers and this final edition includes:

Our offices will be closed from COB Friday 22 December 2023 and reopen on Wednesday 3 January 2024. This is a time for us to recharge and spend time with our loved ones. We will be back with full energy and dedication to serve you in the new year. We hope you can enjoy this special time with your loved ones too!

To get our e-news delivered directly to your inbox every 3-4 months, simply subscribe to the newsletter here.

 

Has your home or business been impacted by the cyclone in QLD or severe weather or flooding in NSW?

If you have an IBA home loan or business finance product and have been impacted by these weather events, we want to reassure you and your family that IBA is here in times of need.

Customers impacted by the recent natural disasters can apply for an emergency natural disaster relief grant – $5,000 for IBA business finance customers and/or $2,000 for IBA home loan customers.

All eligible customers should have received a direct link via SMS or email with information about how to apply. Applications accepted until midnight 2 February 2024, or until funds are exhausted (whichever comes first).

While applications are open, please note that due to the holiday closure period, all eligible payments of the Natural Disaster Relief Grant will be delayed until after our offices reopen on Wednesday 3 January 2024.

Additional information and resource links are below: