Two hundred and thirty job pledges for Indigenous Australians were received from 16 employers in just 90 minutes at a breakfast at the Marist Youth Care Vocational Training and Employment Centre (VTEC), part of the Australian Government’s innovative VTEC initiative.Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, said the 230 pledges at the breakfast far exceeded the aim of obtaining 90 pledges for Indigenous job seekers to be trained and placed into jobs through the Marist Youth Care VTEC in Sydney’s Blacktown.

“This is a fantastic result and demonstrates the goodwill that exists among businesses in relation to employing more Indigenous Australians. It was great to see Marist Youth Care secure these pledges on Friday as it works towards securing employment for Indigenous job seekers in the Blacktown area,” Minister Scullion said.

“Indigenous employment is one of the Australian Government’s top priorities in Indigenous Affairs and getting Indigenous job seekers into ongoing employment is critical to reducing Indigenous disadvantage.

“Having a job not only benefits individuals, but also their families and the broader community, and helps end the financial disparity felt by many of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“The VTEC model aims to bring an end to the cycle of training for training’s sake, and having Indigenous job seekers placed into real jobs.

“VTECs support Indigenous job seekers through job-specific training and sustainable employment.

“Job seekers who retain employment beyond 26 weeks are far less likely to fall back into unemployment and, if they do, spend much less time unemployed before they return to work.

“VTECs support job seekers to find and retain long-term employment through a strong collaboration between employers, employment and training service providers, participation support services and local Indigenous communities.

“The Government has committed up to $45 million for VTECs with a target of placing 5,000 Indigenous Australians into guaranteed jobs across Australia by June 2015.”

VTECs are based on the GenerationOne employment model. GenerationOne manages the Australian Employment Covenant, an industry-led initiative that has established more than 60,000 job pledges for Indigenous Australians from Australian companies.