Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The northern Goldfields town of Laverton is one of the most remote towns in my electorate. It sits at the start of the Outback Way, the iconic tourist route linking WA to Queensland. Laverton also supports a thriving mining industry, which contributed almost $2 billion to the Australian economy in 2017. Laverton is home to a large Indigenous population, and it was my pleasure to contribute to an Indigenous employment and training workshop when I visited the town last week. There I listened to ideas from innovative locals keen to start their own businesses and train and employ Aboriginals from both Laverton and the adjacent Ngaanyatjarra lands. Indigenous unemployment is a big issue in this area, and the focus of the Community Development Program and private businesses should be to provide skills training to fill existing workforce shortages.

At the workshop, the Stokes brothers talked about training young Aboriginals to work on high-paid mining jobs such as haulpak drivers and heavy equipment operators. My long-time friend and senior Aboriginal elder Bruce Smith recently placed three young men in lucrative positions with civil construction company APA, which is building the 200-kilometre-long gas pipeline that will service the Gruyere gold project. Roslyn Sullivan works in tourism and the arts industry and sees a real opportunity for an Indigenous cultural tour business, taking people out onto her country for an overnight taste of traditional life. Her business would provide tourism, training and employment to local artisans. It was my privilege to join these conversations, and I look forward to seeing Indigenous businesses thrive through delivering real employment outcomes for their people in Laverton and the Ngaanyatjarra lands