Council to make big difference: Mundine

THE coalition government's planned Indigenous Advisory Council will make a difference to the quality of Aboriginal life in as little as five years, says incoming chairman Warren Mundine.

The former ALP president was scathing of high spending in the area which he said had proven ineffective.

"You've got half a million indigenous people in Australia. There's only about a couple of hundred thousand of them who need support and help, and we're spending $25 billion on it on an annual basis," Mr Mundine told ABC TV on Monday.

"That just doesn't make sense to me. I'm a businessman and if I ran a business like that I'd probably go bankrupt very quickly."

Prime minister-elect Tony Abbott has promised to set up the council within a week of being sworn in to the top job on Wednesday.

The council will firstly review current indigenous spending and make recommendations to government, before being responsible for overseeing change.

After airing his frustration at the lack of progress under a Labor government, Mr Mundine is confident the coalition plan will make a difference.

"We're focusing on an area that has been lacking in this whole area of Aboriginal affairs and that is, if you're going to create jobs, that is not through government funding, that is through economic activity."

He said it was essential to work with the private sector to create job opportunities and match education and training, while on another level boost Aboriginal childhood education.

"Through that process I predict within about five to seven years you'll make a massive difference," Mr Mundine said.

The council boss said he had also spoken with incoming treasurer Joe Hockey about the coalition's proposed $42 million cuts to indigenous legal services.

"He is pulling back on that," Mr Mundine said of Mr Hockey.

Asked if it meant the cuts would not go ahead, Mr Mundine said: "No, I don't think it will be cut."

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Harper Lee settles copyright lawsuit

HARPER Lee has settled the lawsuit she filed to secure the copyright to her classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

A federal judge in New York City approved the order last week dismissing the case against Samuel L. Pinkus, the son-in-law of Lee's former literary agent, and companies he allegedly created.

Two other defendants had been dropped from the suit a week earlier.

Gloria C. Phares, the Alabama author's lawyer, says the case has ended to Lee's satisfaction.

Defence lawyer Vincent Carissimi said many people misconstrued the nature of the case and that Lee's royalties were never in danger.

Filed in early May in US District Court in Manhattan, the suit alleged that Pinkus failed to properly protect the copyright after his father-in-law, Eugene Winick, became ill a decade ago.

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Small business sees long haul to recovery

AUSTRALIA faces a long road to economic recovery, even if business gains a short-term boost in confidence from the election of a majority coalition government, new research suggests.

A survey of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in August found that just 23 per cent of respondents expect the domestic economy to improve within 12 months.

The survey of 1022 SMEs by business software provider MYOB released on Tuesday found 35 per cent expect an improvement to take to one to two years, while 26 per cent expect it will take more than two years.

Confidence results were a little weaker than those reported in MYOB's previous Business Monitor released in March.

The results correspond with a dip in revenue expectations for this financial year, with only a quarter anticipating a revenue rise, down from 30 per cent six months ago.

Twenty-two per cent are expecting a fall (up from 19 per cent) and 44 per cent are expecting stable revenue (up from 42 per cent).

MYOB chief executive officer Tim Reed believes political uncertainty in the lead up to the election was likely to have had a strong influence on the results.

"We hope to see a boost in SME confidence now the election verdict is in, but our research suggests it will be a slow road to significant improvement in the health of our economy and our business outlook," Mr Reed said.

"The financial confidence of the country's small to medium business operators is closely linked to the health of our economy and it is telling us a clear story."

He said while SMEs welcome record-low interest rates, they also recognise it as a sure sign the domestic economy is experiencing slowed growth.

Two industry sectors stood out as being particularly gloomy about the outlook - only 13 per cent of agribusiness owners saw an improvement in the economy within a year, while 35 per cent of manufacturing and wholesale business owners expect a revenue fall this year.

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