Investors have a crucial role to play in promoting economic inclusion and self-determination for First Nations peoples. Investment offers opportunities for First Nations communities in accessing new sources of financial capital for social, economic, and environmental purposes; and creating and expanding new social enterprise and business opportunities. In this keynote address, eminent Aboriginal Australian anthropologist, geographer, writer and academic Professor Marcia Langton AO will reflect on how Indigenous Australians can achieve the best possible outcomes from the resources they control and influence, the role investors should play in developing the Indigenous Enterprises, how the private sector can contribute to the realisation of Indigenous peoples’ rights through equitable agreement making, and how initiatives such as the Dhawura Ngilan Business and Investor guides can support Indigenous cultural heritage protection.
The University of Melbourne
Professor Marcia Langton AO is an anthropologist and geographer, and since 2000 has held the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has produced a large body of knowledge in the areas of political and legal anthropology, Indigenous agreements and engagement with the minerals industry, and Indigenous culture and art. Her role in the Empowered Communities project under contract to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and as a member of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians are evidence of Professor Langton's academic reputation, policy commitment and impact, alongside her role as a prominent public intellectual.Her 2012 Boyer lecture series titled The Quiet Revolution: Indigenous People and the Resources Boom is one of her recent contributions to public debate, and added to her influence and reputation in government and private sector circles. In 1993 she was made a member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her work in anthropology and the advocacy of Aboriginal rights.Professor Langton is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, a Fellow of Trinity College, Melbourne and an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland. In 2016 Professor Langton was honoured as a University of Melbourne Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor. In further recognition as one of Australia’s most respected Indigenous Academics Professor Langton has in 2017 been appointed as the first Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne.