I agree, when we started to elect people who had no real world experience, is about the time we became the stupid country? We once made all our own trains, rolling stock in govt owned railway workshops. Those were the same workshops that trained most of our boilermakers, welders and blacksmiths. It was dirty work that left the ears ringing at the end of every working day, as apprentices followed welders, knocking off slag from welded products.
You can't un-shear a shorn sheep.
These straight from unions or university, or thick between the ears Pollies, were far too quick to rip up rail and tram lines. And thought we'd save money via private bus lines and highway freight forwarders.
That was extremely short-sighted or simply stupid, given the exponentially rising cost of fuel, and peak oil.
We used to make good cars that were designed to last the lifetime of the buyer. That was until bean counters replaced engineers in the automotive manufacturing industry.
Things that used to be made on site were out sourced in the endless drive to increase profit margins, or build cheaper cars. So, and in 20/20 hindsight, stupidity flourished during the age of the extreme capitalism and or the bean counters?
As for Gina doing something that smacks of a generosity of spirit? Well, given the seemingly ruthless way she seems to have treated her own flesh and blood? Don't hold your breath.
If we don't have enough boilermakers and welders willing to relocate, we will simply have to import them, as temporary guest workers.
And if we need to import skilled labour in order to create a project and more permanent employment opportunities for Australians, then that is what we must do.
Just don't expect people who have houses, friends and relatives to give all that up just to go to some barren wilderness hell hole, thousands of miles away, where the only thriving life-forms seems to be flies, and the only constant seems endless unrelenting heat.
I simply couldn't make that choice and suspect the author never ever would? Rhrosty.

You can't blame people for wanting to turn the clocks back to Pig Iron Bob, high tariffs, protectionism, the six o'clock swill, when women and Aborigines were second class citizens and industrial democracy was a contraction in terms.

I fear people like Rhosty are echos of the Country Party under Diamond Jack, pining for a monochromal world captured by the TV program 'The Sullivans'.

The movement of labour and services across borders has been with us for 10 years or more.

Rhosty, unfortunately you seem to be typical of those people who abound in today's society. Back in the sixties when I needed to get a job in my chosen profession I went to Mt.Isa and then the N.T. The pay and conditions were no where as good as they are today but I spent six years away from "civilisation" with few regrets.

The author is placing blame in the wrong place. As someone once said, "Life wasn't meant to be easy". Those who are not prepared to move in order to gain employment when it is obviously so readily available should wake up to themselves, particularly the young.

David

Naomi

sorry but your arguement is quite flawed.. I think you're use to conventional HR in places where people want to work.

The problem with getting workers at those mines is that no one will move or take the jobs even on a fly-in, fly-out basis.. mines have taken innovative approaches such as offering FIFO shifts to locals with hobby farms, say.. but that is for relatively settled areas.. So there is a distinct skill shortage in those remote mines (of which ther are quite a few) despite the best efforts of specialist recruitment firms. In fact, some of those firms have already given up trying to recruit Aus workers and recruit only in places like Ireland.

And we're talking about a booming sector and quite a few mines in remote areas so 17,000 is not surprising.. that figure is less than 10 per cent of our annual immigration intake, incidentally..

The point about this whole issue is that the govt has totally mishandled it.. it should never even have become an issue..

I suspect that people like Cheryl are very skilled a quite deliberately misinterpreting and misrepresenting the views of others.
Given some of my forbears were also Aborigine, and I am the very proud dad of 2 young women, her unnecessarily critical and patently sexist remarks can't be aimed at me.
My past included extreme poverty and a three mile daily walk to school over rough gravel roads in bare feet, and absolute hell on a cold and frosty morning, compounded by chilblains, a product of malnutrition. I find very little in the past to pine for.
I was merely pointing out that a skills shortage is a fairly recent phenomenon, possibly contributed in no small part by the sacrifices made by our people during 2 world wars?
We were once the third wealthiest nation on the planet and a creditor one at that. And, a past tense fact actually worth pining for.
David, I worked many thousands of miles from home, in mines/tunnels, for around half my adult working life and have never ever been afraid of hard work, which by the way, was responsible for all my promotions.
Moreover, I come from a generation that knew real hardship and didn't have virtually everything handed to them on a platter.
Parenthetically, the whole quote goes, life wasn't meant to be easy, but rather, delightful.
Yes, some of the things we did were both very dumb and included, throwing the baby out with the bath water in a mad rush to modernise and privatise. Rhrosty.

I suspect that the real issue here is that the capable, motivated, educated young Australians are already in worthwhile jobs. The unemployed pool, in my experience, certainly cannot be described that way.

I am deeply familiar with the issues in a family close to mine. Two early 30s GenY youngsters, despite being brought up in a loving, supportive, encouraging environment, became seduced by computer games when in their teens. They rocked off to university, but each dropped out within a month or two. They then reverted to computer games and watching television. They decline to do any course that could help them gain basic skills. I have tried to encourage them to do a diploma in project management (widely needed) or other vocations that interest them. They express interest, but nothing ever happens. Instead, they slope off to watch the NBA.

There is an issue with their work ethic. One of those youngsters turned his computer interests into a job in IT support. He used to leave home at 9:30am, and return home at 3:15. Asked why, he said that he was only required to put in five billable hours each day. Soon enough, he was retrenched when a downturn came. He is still unemployed, but not on the dole, coz he lives with his family. He has done some work for a friend, fencing and the like. His idea of a hard day is one where he does 4 billable hours.

I think that you will find that the mining companies know from experience that if they take on a person that I have described, they struggle to comply with basic company expectations (turning up on time, not leaving early, meeting safety requirements) or to gain from company training programs. Naomi will likely have a view on this.

I accept that there does seem to be a lack of support for youngsters like those I described. But I think that there are an awful lot of them out there if discussions with friends and acquaintances can be relied upon.