Indigenous, Emplolyment, Education & Training

ACCI Stands For:
Increased Indigenous involvement
in private sector employment & entreprenurial endeavour

Which can help overcome challenges including welfare
dependency, provide role models & foster pride &
confidence within Aboriginal communities

ACCI recognises that Indigenous Australians remain the most disadvantaged group in the
labour market and advocates the need for specific policy responses.

Indigenous Employement

Policy Objectives:
  • Assist Indigenous Australians to have access to private sector employment as distinct from
    community and public sector options
  • Establish appropriate support mechanisms for Indigenous people employed in the private
    sector, particularly in small business
  • Recognise the importance of New Apprenticeships as one of the most important options for
    employers to open up opportunities for Indigenous job seekers to enter private sector
    employment Include the promotion of private sector employment opportunities to
    Indigenous communities and individual
  • Continuously develop labour force skills and knowledge of Indigenous job seekers and the
    community generally
  • Link available labour, particularly in remote areas, with available employment opportunities
  • Ensure the design of labour market programs to meet individual and business needs
  • Implement adequate pre-employment assistance to meet the needs of the job seeker and
    employer
  • Encourage and facilitate cross-cultural awareness training for non-Indigenous businesses
    and their employees to develop an awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural
    issues within the workplace
  • Encourage the development and implementation of structured induction training programs
    for Indigenous employees, with an emphasis on employee obligations and responsibilities
    within the workplace
  • Establish targeted employer incentives which  relate to ongoing placement with the employer
  • Provide incentive to Community Development Employment Projects to encourage participants
    to gain nationally recognised skills and qualifications and structured workplace learning and
    experience in private sector companies
  • Maintain publicly funded employment services
  • Adequately respond to the needs of Indigenous job seekers and prospective employers

Indigenous Education & Training

Policy Objectives:
  • Strengthen the focus on sound basics such as English language, literacy and numeracy at
    primary and secondary school level
  • Improve, and regularly test, on a nationally agreed and consistent basis, literacy and
    numeracy standards and develop appropriate intervention strategies
  • Focus on nationally consistent outcomes for Indigenous students and achieve standards
    which are comparable to international standards of best practice
  • Maximise education and training pathways from school to the workplace, particularly to
    assist in increasing retention rates for Indigenous school students
  • Respond to the growing need for students to undertake workplace learning programs which
    develop links with industry and create pathways to further training and employment in the
    private sector
  • Improve and integrate careers education, employability skills and enterprise education
    principles into the education and training system to provide Indigenous students with an
    understanding and potential of the range of pathways available
  • Provide for the adoption of an enterprising culture, particularly by young Australians
  • Develop culturally specific support documentation for nationally accredited training packages
    to encourage use in Indigenous communities
  • Fully implement “user choice” in Indigenous communities to ensure they benefit from training
    providers delivering training to meet their needs
  • Develop more flexible delivery mechanisms including online delivery to enable nationally
    recognised training to be offered to remote communities
  • Continue to encourage further education and training, including university and vocational
    education and training