The Australian Employment Covenant and GenerationOne welcome the appointment of the Hon Julie Collins MP as the new Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development.

AEC CEO Rhonda Parker said:

“We currently have over 61,000 future employment opportunities coming online for Indigenous Australians – spread over 321 employers right across Australia.”

“On Friday we reached an important milestone with over 7,000 of these jobs opportunities being realised. We look forward to working with the new Minister to ensure the next 54,000+ opportunities are able to be taken up.”

Since 2008 we have worked closely with the Government to break down the barriers to employment for Indigenous Australians. We have enjoyed working with Senator Mark Arbib who has shown a real passion for closing the gap for Indigenous Australians through education, training and employment and we thank him for his commitment.

With the support of Minister Collins there is no reason we can’t fill all these jobs enabling the Government’s commitment of delivering 100,000 Indigenous jobs by 2018 a reality.

GenerationOne CEO, Tim Gartrell said:

“GenerationOne looks forward to presenting the new Minister with the evidence collected in the year long Skills and Training for a Career policy process, and working with her on the best way to deliver the work readiness and training, that has a clear line of sight to a guaranteed job.”

Indigenous education, training and employment is a key issue for many Australians with the GenerationOne campaign attracting over 205,000 active supporters.