Mining giant Rio Tinto has told the indigenous jobs review headed by mining magnate Andrew Forrest that enormous changes must be made in order to get Aborigines into jobs.
Date: 27 July 2009
According to the article on the Australian, Rio Tinto’s Australia Managing Director David Peever, who had been appointed to the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, said that the Government must introduce major changes and provide incentives for the nation’s best teachers to relocate to the remote parts of Australia.
“At a foundation level, significant improvement is required in areas such as early childhood education, basic literacy and numeracy, education, accommodation and health,” wrote Mr Peever to the indigenous jobs review.
“There is currently an urgent need for Government to pursue strategies to attract and retain high performing and experienced teaching staff and school administrators to remote indigenous teaching locations. These staff should be provided appropriate resources to pilot and deliver innovative and culturally appropriate teaching programs.”
According to him, the Government must increase investment levels and pay greater attention to delivery of driver education so that young people who have finished school would have a better chance to land a job. In addition, Mr Peever demanded greater support for financial incentives and greater flexibility in Government funding criteria that would enable industry to better retain indigenous employees.
“This area along with current licensing processes will continue to present significant barriers for entry into employment and long-term unemployed people getting back into work,” wrote Mr Peever.
“Greater assistance and incentives to develop affordable housing stock that would enable employees to move with their immediate family to where the job opportunities exist and/or to provide funding and support for innovative transport options where economies of scale may not exist.”
Mr Peever also urged the Government to increase efforts and investments to create other employment opportunities for those who do not want to work in mining.
According to Mr Peever, the Government needed to continue to identify and address government policies that presented an obstacle for long-term employment, including an increased timeframe before indigenous workers had their state-owned housing support removed due to moving into a higher income bracket.
“There is currently very little in the way of incentives for organisations and levels of government to co-operate, to align their strategies and achieve a degree of common purpose,” said Mr Peever.
“Building on good practice and supporting local networks is what is making a difference.”
Recent times have brought the company an unwanted media attention after it decided to scale-down the alumina production in its Gove refinery in Arnhem Land. The decision resulted in devastating a 1500-strong workforce, with a substantial number of indigenous employees among them.
According to company’s data, Rio Tinto employs approximately 1650 indigenous people in permanent roles across its Australian operations, which accounts for 7.3% of its total workforce.
