Mining jobs for indigenous Australians.
A�program conducted in Kempsey, NSW, to train indigenous workers for resource jobs in the Pilbara, has won a further $400,000 in funding, following training and placement of 93 men and women from northern NSW into FIFO jobs in Pilbara projects, including dump truck drivers, OHS representatives, scaffolders and first aid officers.
Independent MP Rob Oakeshott said the scheme was a spectacular model for future schemes.
“It’s a good program and a place-based model of success,” he said. “Too often Canberra tells people how things are going to happen and that’s especially so in the areas of Aboriginal affairs and employment services.
“This is a reverse of that.
“It has come from the community and has grown organically and Canberra is, thankfully, looking like backing it in,”� he said.
Workers who found mining jobs by the scheme had a 100 per cent retention rate.
Mr Oakeshott said another $1.6 million would be used to establish three similar projects (mining skills and mine-ready training) in the region in the coming months.
Indigenous Pilbara mine training scheme a success. More mining jobs for the Pilbara
