It has been argued that Indigenous people are among the most socially excluded in Australia, and that Indigenous disadvantage is multidimensional and different to other forms of poverty in Australia in the incidence and depth of poverty experienced. This paper, presented at the Brotherhood of St Laurence’s Social Inclusion Down Under Symposium held in June 2008, examines the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID) Framework, and argues that it provides an example of a narrow conception of social exclusion that focuses largely on economic participation, rather than any Indigenous-specific indicators of cultural well-being. Related to this is whether economic participation is affected by the failure to: clarify the existence of all Indigenous-specific rights related to native title in all circumstances; to eliminate ongoing racial discrimination; and to resolve the nature and extent of Indigenous representation in the political system. The author argues that it is not possible to address the broader notion of social inclusion without taking such issues into consideration. The paper attempts to illustrate some challenges that arise for the notion of social inclusion (or social exclusion) from recent attempts to address Indigenous disadvantage. It reviews some recent public debates: the Northern Territory (NT) intervention into Indigenous communities is briefly discussed, as is the public debate about the future reforms of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme. The paper then discusses Indigenous disadvantage in terms the notion of cumulative or circular causation, before providing some concluding remarks to tie the discussion together. (Introduction, edited.)