Western Downs Traditional Owners have a chance to map out brighter futures for Indigenous youth at a jobs planning session in Goondiwindi tomorrow, with the help of Arrow Energy.
Arrow has engaged Energy Skills Queensland (ESQ) to identify work opportunities in the region over the next decade for the session, which is expected to be attended by more than 100 Northern Gomeroi, Kamilaroi and Bigambul Traditional Owners as well as Indigenous residents from Goondiwindi, Moree and Toomelah.
Arrow’s Community Relations Manager Glenda Viner said the planning workshop would identify the type of work available across the whole resource sector in the next five to 10 years, and the skills Indigenous people in the Western Downs would need to fill the jobs.
“Arrow is committed to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to take advantage of opportunities across the entire Queensland resource sector,” Ms Viner said.
“Armed with the knowledge from the workshop, Traditional Owners can identify the future needs of their communities and plan accordingly for positive outcomes.”
Northern Gomerio Traditional Owner and Toomelah resident Norm McGrady said Indigenous youth would benefit most from the session through being informed of the training and development requirements for working in the resource sector.
“We (Elders) aren’t worried about ourselves, but we want to make sure everything is going to be there for our future kids,” Mr McGrady said.
“It will be a good opportunity for our young kids to know the work protocol.
“There’s a lot of young people here (in Toomelah, on the NSW-Queensland border) who are looking at doing their education, going to Year 12, but there are currently no jobs available for them.”
Arrow helped facilitate a similar session with Traditional Owners and Indigenous residents in Miles on 5 and 6 October.
ESQ Workforce Planning Manager Anthea Middleton said the Miles event was highly successful in bringing together a range of stakeholders to work towards a common goal, and it was hoped the Goondiwindi session would have the same outcome.
She said it was important that long-term planning was in place for Indigenous people to take advantage of the various industries operating in their regions.
“I think Arrow absolutely should be commended for taking this step over and above any Native Title Agreement, and over and above any Indigenous Land Use Agreement,” she said.
It is doing this not because it has to, but because it wants to.”
The aim is to combine all the knowledge and planning garnered from the sessions into a guiding document to be called the Western Downs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Community Workforce Plan.
It is part of the Surat Basin Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Workforce Planning Project under Arrow’s Whanu Binal program.
Whanu Binal assists Indigenous people and communities to develop their capacity, knowledge and skills to gain work in the resources sector.
The planning session will be held from 11am to 4pm at the Goondiwindi Cultural Centre on the corner of Russell and Short streets.
Media contact:
Energy Skills Queensland
Anthea Middleton
Phone: +61 7 458 898 937
Email: [email protected]