Indigenous people grappling with some of Australia’s worst poverty and health outcomes are being offered a chance to tap into a business and community development fund worth more than half a billion dollars, but there are fears the money is being spent too conservatively.

Two years ago the federal government gave statutory Indigenous organisation Aboriginal Investment NT (AINT) control of $680 million in royalties that Northern Territory Aboriginal people have earned from hosting mines on their land.

The body has set itself the goal of helping Aboriginal people achieve “economic self-sufficiency” and “cultural and social health” by using the money to fund “nation-building projects”.