MEDIA RELEASE

5 July 2011                                                               

  Australian employers join forces to tackle job training

    for Indigenous employees

More than 400 Australian employers, Indigenous leaders and members of the community held a policy forum in Melbourne today to discuss the important challenge of providing job training for Indigenous Australians. 

Founder of GenerationOne Andrew Forrest said the Australian Employment Covenant announced last week it had met its target of 50, 000 job commitments and it was now moving its focus to employer directed training for these jobs. 

“We know Australian employers want to employ Indigenous Australians, but now we must ensure that the right training is available for Indigenous people to be able to take up the amazing array of employment opportunities on offer through the 50,000 committed jobs.”

Today’s unique policy forum will discuss GenerationOne’s recently released draft policy to tackle indigenous job training - The Skills and Training for a Career.

The aim of the forum is to gain ideas and input from the high profile attendees and continue to develop the policy for presentation to the federal government in the second half of 2011.

The policy forum was moderated by leading Aboriginal scholar, Marcia Langton, and brought together a panel of six key business, education and Indigenous leaders:

• Andrew Forrest, founder of GenerationOne
• James Packer, Executive Chairman of Consolidated Press Holdings
• Madonna Beattie, Director of Nyaarla Projects

• Christine Ross, Aboriginal Employment Consultant
• Adrian Appo AO, Executive Officer of Ganbina

Independent market and social researcher Auspoll has reported that two-thirds of Indigenous Australians named inadequate training and qualifications as a barrier in gaining and sustaining employment.

CEO of GenerationOne Tim Gartrell said the panel and attendees discussed key elements of the draft policy such as creating career pathways, linking training to real jobs, the vital role of the work-readiness program, mentoring, post-placement support, and how employers can gain value and grow from diversity within their workplace.

“The framework of our draft policy outlines the importance of initial planning and relationship development between the employer and employee and aligning training packages to include onsite delivery in ‘live’ workplace scenarios,” Mr Gartrell said.

“Training organisations need to work with employers to develop practical training packages that give Indigenous Australians the right skills and qualifications for sustainable employment. This is how we will create real change for Indigenous Australians.”

“Its innovative approach in including employers and industry in the training stages is key to decreasing the current Indigenous unemployment statistics and providing attainable and sustainable employment”, he said.

“A lot of Indigenous Job seekers are highly motivated, however need skills and training.  With the right support we can make a real difference to the lives of Indigenous Australians by moving people from welfare into the 50,000 jobs committed by Australian employers.”

GenerationOne and sister organisation the Australian Employment Covenant (AEC) will continue to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Australian employers and training organisations to enable Indigenous Australians to become work and job ready.

To find out more information about the Draft Indigenous Employment Policy or to download and make comment on the policy visit www.generationone.org.au. 

ENDS.