I work in the Employment and Training Industry,it didnt take long
days really to understand that there was a very slim chance that Indigenous people really dont have a chance to gain work.many of my clients have had lots of training.have certificates and still can't get work.I go to interviews with them and help as much as I can
Also I have spoken to local and state about the lack of identified positions.what annoys me most is you look at their web sites they have
Indigenous careers sections BUT NO JOBS!! I am so over lip service

"full-blooded" not in inverted commas scares me, coming as it does from an ex Minister of the Crown. I thought we had got past this, but I just have to ask, what is the obverse "empty-blooded"?

The affairs of First Nations in Australia attracts multitudes of alleged experts, both black and white. As a for-instance, the Wave Hill walk off did not occur in a political vacuum. The empowerment to undertake such action was, in large part, catalyzed by the 1948 Stockmen's strike in the Pilbara, facilitated by Don McLeod and organised by Dooley Bin Bin and Clancy McKenna. This ex Minister implies that had First Nations peoples been left well enough alone and relied on the largess of crumbs from the white man's table, then all might have been well.

Does he know that slavery was abolished in his Mother Country in the 1820s, and that this first action by any European or Western Nation cost the British economy some 8-12% of their GDP!

Moral action costs, and Australia has never been prepared to pay the price of eliminating "terra nullius" not just from the statutes, but from the mind....

Wiradjiri Women misses the point. There are jobs - just not in some of locations people live. We have a labour shortage and we are about to import guest workers. Perhaps the problem with her employment service experience was that the emphasis was on training for welfare and not in getting a job wherever it was. Many people have to move to work.

While Andrews can speak for himself, the point is that the apartheid like policies of the past are not a recipe for engagement in the real economy and the latter is the only way of getting economic independence and breaking poverty and welfare cycles.

SapperK9 simply reverts to the head in the sand, poor bugger me attitude that its everybody elses fault and the "white man" is an oppresser. Nobody is arguing for slavery, but it doesn't obviate the fact that the equal wages movement cost jobs - and the resort to welfare then trapped whole communities. Fact is - full paying jobs now exist - but we still have atrocious indigenpous employment. Cut the PC posturing about "full blooded". Whatever the sensitivities about what you call people - they still live in pretty appalling situations.

Sure, as a Nation we screwed this up, but there are plenty of indigenous leaders who are complicit in the "noble savage" seperate development myth as well. But the best solution is not is not more welfare - its taking the necessary steps to connect people with real economies and jobs.

training for welfare? I can say you have it so wrong! you clearly
are misinformed here,where were you educated? by text books at your local primary school many years ago! the company that I work for is based all over Queensland Our office is in a highly structured city.Have you heard of brisbane?
I bet some one like you have never taken the time to get to know any
Indigenous people or families.But oh no you have all the answers
one word of advice get smart get an education!!and some manners!

Kevin Andrews MP is the federal Member for Menzies (Vic) and Minister for Employment and workplace Relations and Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service,

How about reinstating the anti discrimination act.

How about demanding that services are delivered - there are a lot of hands in the bucket of Indigenous monies that make sure it is a lot lighter before it hits the ground.

The public service got rid of a lot of Indigenous workers under the Howard regime, I think they weren't the corporate colour, so how about looking for some of those who were hounded out by bully boy bosses.

While you are at it how about suggesting that unions, like the cpsu, look at the issue of racism in their ranks.

In the private sector, like mining (digging riches out of Aboriginal land) how many Indigenous people are in a position higher than tradesperson?

As it is in your power to do something dont just talk about it. Demand that Indigenous people are treated fairly and equitably.
Or are we not the corporate colour.
Good points Wiradjiri

Well, if we are going to get serious, howzabouts we get real serious and deal with some real 'hard issues'...

The concept of training, especially vocational training on remote communities is a failure. It is nobodies fault really, the fact is that the limited options, the lack of defined career path and the difficulty in retaining qualified staff has pretty much killed the concept. Therefore it is perhaps time to look at where on earth we are going to find a large number of people from remote communities, that have been gathered together and are unable to leave for periods that would make realistic training and skill-set building a reality? A lot won't like it, but here goes - PRISON.

I think it is long past time that we bit the bullet and faced facts. Indigenous people are imprisoned at an alarmingly high rate (per capita), that is a fact. Prison's are starting to look seriously at setting up to engage in 'real-world' activities, such as light industrial, fabrication and/or manufacturing activities.

Perhaps it is time to start calling for a greater commitment on the part of corrective services to not only rehabilitating people to what they should have been when they arrived, but to also consider using the opportunity to provide people with the skills/training that will allow them to (a) build their communities; (b) gain real employment; and (c) stand a chance of breaking out of a life of petty-crime.

This will provide real world training to those in most need of the same, including those from remote communities who would otherwise stand little chance of accessing it. Maybe we could even look at trade qualifications, because I think that would be better for the country than importing tradespeople from overseas. I think it is time to provide what the country needs from a underutilized resource, we need tradespeople and other skilled workers, not just people who can punch out numberplates, etc.