29 Indigenous Australians receive mining training in QLD

A group of 29 Indigenous Australians graduated from a 13 week pre-employment training course in Camooweal today gaining either Certificate I or II in Civil Construction or Mining and blue cards.

Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development Mark Arbib congratulated the graduates on their achievement and wished them well as they start their careers in mining.

“This program has been a fantastic opportunity for the 29 participants to gain skills in an area that is experiencing an extreme skill shortage,” Senator Arbib said.

“The pre-employment training includes aspects of civil construction and open mining, experience in the safe operation and maintenance of heavy plant and equipment and assistance in the transition into fulltime work.

“23 of the participants have already started jobs in the mining industry thanks to the assistance of some of Australia’s biggest mining companies and a number of smaller civil construction employers.

“So importantly this is not training for training’s sake, this is training that leads to a meaningful job.”

Senator Arbib said the program received more than $1.1 million from the Gillard Government’s Indigenous Employment Program. 

“The pre-employment training was provided by Myuma Pty Ltd and Dungalunji Aboriginal Corporation with Mt Isa Skills Association contributing to mentoring and facilitating job placements to ensure the participants had appropriate support,” Senator Arbib said.

“In addition to the pre-employment training the participants have been able to access a Workplace English Language and Literacy project through the Learning Partnership in Business initiative to assist those with low literacy skills.”

Senator Arbib said Treasury predicted 500,000 jobs would be created over the next two years and it was critical that Indigenous Australians had the support and training they needed to take up employment.

“Indigenous employment is not a short term issue. Over the next four years the Government has also committed almost $650 million to the Indigenous Employment Program,” Senator Arbib said.

“This is part of the Gillard Government’s target to create more than 100,000 jobs for Indigenous Australians by 2018.”

reff:australia.gov.au