50 Indigenous jobseekers in Cherbourg line up jobs

Indigenous Cherbourg residents will soon benefit from a skills program aimed at getting them ready for jobs in the construction and horticulture industries.

Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development Mark Arbib and Queensland Senator John Hogg today said the Cherbourg Community Indigenous Employment Program would involve pre-employment training, work experience and mentoring support leading to sustainable jobs.

“This is a fantastic program for more than 50 Indigenous jobseekers in the Cherbourg area. Being in such a central location participants can easily travel to projects like the coal seam gas pipeline that is starting in Chinchilla,” Senator Arbib said.

“The participants will receive a Certificate II in Construction or Horticulture and can also receive help with literacy and numeracy.

Senator Hogg said the program was a result of more than $340 000 from the Gillard Government and was a joint initiative with the Queensland Government and the Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council.

“Thanks to this strong partnership we can continue to build job and training opportunities in regional and remote Queensland for Indigenous Australians,” Senator Hogg said.

“There are multiple construction job opportunities – assisting in the community’s social housing development and the Cherbourg Fresh Farm both of which have indicated they are willing to employ people who successfully complete the program.”

Senator Arbib said Treasury predicted 500 000 jobs would be created over the next two years and it was critical that Indigenous Australians had the support and training they needed to take up employment.

“Indigenous employment is not a short term issue. Over the next four years the Government has also committed almost $650 million to the Indigenous Employment Program,” Senator Arbib said.

“This is part of the Gillard Government’s target to create more than 100 000 jobs for Indigenous Australians by 2018.”