The Abbott Government is taking action to help ensure unemployed Indigenous people are able to obtain jobs.
Despite current Federal Government programs, mining magnate Andrew Forrest has stated that many Indigenous Australians are suffering a racism “of low expectations” regarding job prospects.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott will today appoint Forrest to spearhead a review of the current programs, and provide recommendations by 7 April 2014 on how to ensure training and employment services are run to connect Indigenous people with “real and sustainable” jobs in a bid to end the cycle of Indigenous disadvantage, News Ltd reported.
Forrest is confident that if given the right opportunity, Indigenous Australians could provide a huge social and economic contribution to the nation’s workplaces.
"I have seen in my own company Aboriginal people who have turned their lives around when given the guarantee of a job at the completion of training,” he said.
Forrest has said all avenues and training models that lead to employment will be fully considered.
In 2011, the unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians was 16%, down from 2010’s 18%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Forrest was a co-founder of GenerationOne, which Kevin Rudd launched in 2010 to help reduce the disparity of employment options between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Since then, the organisation’s Australian Employment Covenant has secured 61,717 employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians, filling over 15,000 jobs.
