Sectoral information

As part of annual reporting under the CATSI Act, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations provide information on the sectors in which they operate.

Figure 16: Number of sectors in which the top 500 corporations operated, 2014–15

Note: Six corporations did not report any sector at all.

During 2014–15, 323 (64.6 per cent) of the top 500 corporations reported that they were active in one sector only (figure 16). This was 39 more corporations than in the previous financial year (figure 17). A total of 171 corporations operated in more than one sector. Of these, 151 corporations operated in two to six sectors—a decrease of 31 corporations from the previous financial year. One corporation identified that it operated in 16 different sectors. Six corporations did not report any sector at all.

Figure 17: Number of the top 500 corporations operating in one sector only, 2008–09 to 2014–15

Figure 18: Number of the top 500 corporations per sector, 2014–15

Figure 18 shows the ‘health and community services’ sector had 197 corporations. Even though the number dropped from 207 in 2013–14 down to 197 in 2014–15 (a decrease of 4.8 per cent) it continued to be the most common sector of corporation activity.

Compared to 2013–14, there were only slight changes in the number of corporations operating in all other sectors. The three sectors that showed the highest percentage growth within the top 500 corporations since the previous financial year were:

• mining—14.3 per cent increase (from seven to eight corporations)
• communication services—11.1 per cent increase (from 27 to 30 corporations)
• municipal services—5.0 per cent (from 40 to 42 corporations).

In last year’s report both the ‘manufacturing’ and ‘wholesale trade’ sectors showed the highest percentage growth within the top 500 at 25 per cent each.
In 2014–15 these sectors had the greatest percentage falls.

The sectors with the largest declines were:

• manufacturing—60 per cent decrease (from five to two corporations)
• wholesale trade—30 per cent decrease (from 10 to seven corporations)
• personal and other services—20.4 per cent decrease (from 54 to 43 corporations).