Australia’s oil and gas industry has committed to continue working with the Australian Government to help more Indigenous Australians move into training and jobs. 

The Minister for Employment Participation, Brendan O’Connor, said there had been positive outcomes from the inaugural National Indigenous Forum held in Darwin this week hosted by the Australian Government and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exportation Association (APPEA).

The Forum was established as part of the Australian Government’s industry strategies for Indigenous employment and APPEA’s National Skills Shortage Strategy to address skills shortage issues in the oil and gas industry.

“APPEA national strategy to address skill shortages in the oil and gas industry includes increasing the employment of females, mature age workers and Indigenous Australians,” Mr O’Connor said.

“The aim of the forum is to identify barriers preventing employment of Indigenous Australians in the oil and gas industry and ways to overcome these barriers.”

The forum included APPEA representatives, including Woodside, Santos, ConocoPhillips and Eni, Australian Government representatives, Indigenous training organisations and contractors.

Outcomes included the establishment of a Shared Human Resources model that will support contractors to work together to improve Indigenous employment outcomes across the industry.

APPEA also agreed to initiate discussions with industry associations and employer organisations to look at sustainable employment outcomes in regional and remote areas.  

Forum attendees also agreed that pre-employment programs, that include literacy and numeracy support, life skills training and mentoring, were vital to prepare Indigenous job seekers for work and that employment based training was the most appropriate pathway for creating employment within the industry. 

17 July 2008