Indo-Pacific Analysis Brief Vol 56
First Nations trade and investment missions – getting the fundamentals right
November 2025
By Sarah Leary
Sarah Leary is an Honorary Fellow (First Nations Foreign Policy) at the Perth USAsia Centre.
A proud Palawa woman, she has 15 years’ experience in the Australian Government including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Attorney-General’s Departments, spanning strategic policy, trade and investment, and programs advancing private-sector development, gender equality and sports diplomacy across the Indo-Pacific.
Key Messages
↗ First Nation businesses occupy an important place in Australia’s national trade and investment story and offer significant commercial value in their own right – in 2022 alone the sector generated $16.1 billion in revenue.
↗ In the rapidly growing Indo-Pacific, including major economies like India, Indonesia and Vietnam, trade missions are an important tool for building the relationships vital to doing business.
↗ Both state and federal governments have committed to supporting First Nations businesses expand into global markets, but there is currently no systematic annual process to pitch, fund and deliver First Nations trade missions internationally.
↗ To move the needle, embedding Indigenous companies into the regular business of Australia’s annual calendar of trade missions and trade agreement negotiation should be Australia’s first priority.
Related insights
Indo-Pacific Analysis Briefs
The Indo-Pacific Analysis Briefs deliver concise, timely insights on critical regional developments. Drawing on perspectives from leading analysts in Asia, Australia and the United States, this series examines emerging issues shaping national and Indo-Pacific policy.