The Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic development, Julie Collins, has joined in a celebration today to mark the milestone of more than 100 Aboriginal employees at Ayers Rock Resort Yulara since the Indigenous Land Corporation took over ownership less than a year ago.
“More Indigenous Australians work at Ayers Rock Resort than ever before,” Ms Collins said.
“This milestone is a demonstration of the Australian Government’s commitment to assisting Indigenous people to develop skills, gain real jobs and benefit from economic development.
“The Government’s Indigenous Employment Program is providing $5 million in funding to support the Indigenous Land Corporation increase the number of Indigenous employees at the resort.
“The innovative Indigenous Employment Program is all about creating business-led projects and increasing job opportunities.
“Since the IEP project began on July 1 last year, the resort has made great gains in sourcing and placing Indigenous employees and trainees.
“The target is to place Indigenous people into 200 jobs by 2015 and 340 by the end of 2018 – or more than half of the resort’s workforce.”
The Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, said the employment of 125 Aboriginal employees in less than a year is a great start to meeting the targets.
“This milestone has never been achieved before in the resort’s 25-year history,” Mr Snowdon said.
“It is a great step forward for Aboriginal job seekers and also a boost for the tourism experience for visitors.”
“Our investment in this area has seen a significant increase in tourism jobs in Central Australia.
Under a comprehensive, 12-month training program, new trainees receive pre-employment support, accredited, paid on-the-job training and on-going mentoring through the National Indigenous Training Academy.
The resort is run by ILC subsidiary company, Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia.
The ILC guarantees a job for all trainees graduating from the program at either Ayers Rock Resort, another ILC business property or at one of the many hotels in the ACCOR hotel network across Australia.
“The objective is that all participants will continue being employed by Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia or another employer in the field by the end of the project,” Ms Collins said.
Since July 2009, the IEP has achieved 83,300 placements in employment and training related activities – including 38,800 job placements and 44,500 training placements.
The Hon Julie Collins MP
Minister for Community Services, Indigenous Employment and Economic Development
The Hon Warren Snowdon MP
Minister for Indigenous Health125 Aboriginal workers and counting for Ayers Rock Resort