Who:“We are now the largest Indigenous employer in Australia” Mitch Hooke, Chief Executive of the Minerals Council of Australia.

The claim: The mining industry is the biggest employer of Indigenous Australians.

The facts: Data for Indigenous employment by industry from the 2011 census shows the mining industry employed four per cent of the Indigenous workforce. Out of the 19 industries that are classified by the ABS the mining industry ranks tenth as an employer of Indigenous Australians.

Discussion of evidence: Nine industries employ more Indigenous people than the mining industry (see Table below). Health Care and Social Assistance is the largest Indigenous employer, with 21, 502 employees, followed by Public Administration and Safety (18,729). The top five industries account for the majority of Indigenous employment. In contrast, Mining (5,433) employs approximately a quarter of the number of Indigenous employees as the Health Care and Social Assistance industry.

Although the mining industry is not the largest employer of Indigenous workers, as a proportion of the mining industry’s total workforce (2.2 per cent of the Australian Labour Force) it does employ more Indigenous people than other industries. 3.1 per cent of the mining industry’s workforce is Indigenous, compared to an average of 2.5 per cent.