This section examines the various sources of income for the top 20 corporations registered under the CATSI Act. Information gathered from audited financial statements submitted by the top 20 corporations is provided in table 6 and figure 25. The total income of individual corporations in the top 20 in 2015–16 ranged from $16.8 million to $95.5 million. As a combined group their income amounted to $550,501,491.
Table 6: Sources of income of the top 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations, 2011–12 to 2015–16
| Financial year | Government funding[1] | Self-generated income | Other income sources[2] | Philanthropic gifts | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | $210,945,564 | (39.9%) | $210,627,891 | (39.8%) | $107,417,202 | (20.3%) | $0 | (0.0%) |
| 2012–13 | $215,438,385 | (36.9%) | $233,573,905 | (40.1%) | $133,925,459 | (23.0%) | $350 | (<0.1%) |
| 2013–14 | $233,974,306 | (39.5%) | $265,904,656 | (44.8%) | $93,026,778 | (15.7%) | $0 | (0.0%) |
| 2014–15 | $230,537,009 | (39.3%) | $252,172,318 | (43.0%) | $102,279,303 | (17.4%) | $1,500,000 | (0.3%) |
| 2015–16 | $243,621,893 | (44.3%) | $255,840,815 | (46.5%) | $50,858,783 | (9.2%) | $180,000 | (<0.1%) |
Note: Percentages are of income sources against the combined income for the top 20 corporations for each financial year.
Government funding to the top 20 corporations has risen by 5.0 per cent since 2014–15 (from 39.3 per cent to 44.3 per cent)—see table 6. The share of self-generated income also increased from 43.0 per cent to 46.5 per cent.
In table 6 ‘other income sources’ includes mining royalties, compensation payments made under Indigenous land use agreements, trust distributions as well as sundry or other income. This is a difficult income category to sustain over time as the flow of these types of payments can be irregular. Table 6 shows this income category had the largest decrease, falling from a 17.4 per cent share in 2014–15 to 9.2 per cent in 2015–16.
In 2015–16 reports all top 20 corporations reported some income received as sundry or other. Only four of these corporations reported income in this category that was from royalties, mining or land use compensation. The value of this subset of income represented 52.5 per cent of the whole ‘other income sources’ category.
Figure 25: Funding sources of the top 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations, 2010–11 to 2015–16
Several trends in income sources were apparent when reviewing the sources of combined corporation income for the top 20 over the past five years (figure 25):
- There was a general upward trend in government funding and self-generated income; and a general decline in the category of other income sources.
- The proportions of self-generated income and government-derived income have stayed almost equal with self-generated income slightly ahead.
- Income received from ‘other income sources’ has declined over time, possibly because this funding source may contain mining royalties and compensation payments made under Indigenous land use agreements, which may be large and one-off. The peak appears in 2012–13 at a time of significant investment activity related to the mining boom. There was a drop of 50.3 per cent in the last financial year.
- Income generated from philanthropic gifts represents less than 0.1 per cent of total income for all years except 2014–15 when a single corporation received gift income representing 0.3 per cent of total income for the top 20.
More on government funding
The top 20 corporations cover a spectrum of income models. They include corporations that almost exclusively deliver government services and programs, and those that derive their income from other operating activities.
The most dominant operating sector reported by the top 20 corporations was health and community services (14 corporations) followed by employment and training (nine corporations) and construction (seven corporations).[3]
Government funding for five corporations in the top 20 was in excess of 90 per cent of their total income. This suggests their business activities focused heavily on delivering services or programs on behalf of government. Four of these corporations operate in the health and community services sector. Each of these corporations employed in excess of 100 people, with the highest number reported by a single corporation being 265 employees.
In 2015–16 two corporations in the top 20 received nil government funding (these were located in the Pilbara and Alice Springs regions) and one other received funding of 0.1 per cent of their total income (also located in the Alice Springs region).
Other observations on the top 20 corporations
The registered locations for main place of business for the top 20 was 13 in the Northern Territory, six in Western Australia (both in the Pilbara) and one in Queensland.
Ten corporations in the top 20 reported that they operated in one sector only.
The ‘health and community services’ sector was the most common sector in the top 20 with 14 corporations reporting that they operated in this sector. Nine corporations reported they operated in the ‘employment and training’ sector and six corporations reported they operated in the ‘construction’ sector.
The average board size of the top 20 corporations was 13.7 directors—higher than the average for the top 500 at 8.2 directors per board. The size of boards in the top 20 ranged from five to 27 directors. All boards had a mix of male and female directors.
Notes
- Government funding includes grants as well as other sources of government funding such as fuel tax credits.
- Other sources of revenue include, but are not limited to, mining royalties, native title compensation packages and distributions from trusts.
- The total exceeds 20 as some corporations operate in more than one sector.