Sixty Indigenous job seekers will be placed into guaranteed jobs in the Pilbara region through the Australian Government’s Vocational Training & Employment Centre (VTEC) initiative.

Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, and local Member for Durack, Ms Melissa Price, announced the new Centre today saying the VTEC model brought an end to the cycle of training for training’s sake.

Minister Scullion said the VTEC located in South Hedland will be operated by local not-for-profit organisation, Bloodwood Tree Association.

“As part of the process of rolling out the VTEC initiative, we have spoken to employers across the country to determine where jobs are located and what industries they are in,” Minister Scullion said.

“The VTEC initiative is based on strong collaboration between employers, employment and training service providers, participation support services and local Indigenous communities.

“Increasing Indigenous employment is one of the top priorities of the Australian Government.

“It’s vital that employment programmes are aligned to real jobs because getting Indigenous Australians into ongoing employment is critical to reducing Indigenous disadvantage.”

Ms Price said that the VTEC model ensured Indigenous Pilbara job seekers would have the right training and skills to be placed into local jobs focused on small business and industries that support the mining sector.

“Bloodwood Tree Association will work closely with employers in this sector who have identified jobs, before training Indigenous job seekers specifically to fill these jobs,” Ms Price said.

“Under the leadership and experience of Bob Neville, the Association is well placed to provide this service and I look forward to visiting the VTEC and Bob in the near future.”

Bloodwood Tree Association has been operating in the South Hedland region for more than 40 years, servicing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It has successfully delivered Indigenous employment services through the Indigenous Employment Programme and directly as an employer. The organisation has strong ties to local Indigenous communities and 77 per cent of its workforce is of Aboriginal descent.

Mr Bob Neville, Chief Executive Officer of Bloodwood Tree Association said he was pleased the organisation was able continue its good work within the Indigenous training and employment arena.

“This follows 15 years of service delivery in training and jobs for the Indigenous community in the Port Hedland area of the Pilbara Region of Western Australia,” Mr Neville said.

VTECs are an Australian Government initiative based on the GenerationOne employment model.

GenerationOne Chief Executive Officer, Mr Jeremy Donovan, said VTECs are driven by a demand-led employment model that is the future of Australian Indigenous vocational training and employment.

“Both employer and employee can have confidence that from day one the new staff member will be ready to contribute to the company, that the post-employment support systems are in place and that the company has adequate cultural awareness training,” Mr Donovan said.

The Australian Government has committed up to $45 million for VTECs to place 5,000 Indigenous job seekers into guaranteed jobs across Australia by July 2015.

The 23 VTECs are located in Sydney, the Hunter Region NSW, South Coast NSW, Brisbane, North and Central Queensland, Perth, Darwin, Melbourne, Kalgoorlie, Alice Springs, the Barkley Region NT, the Kimberley WA, Adelaide SA, the Pilbara region WA and western NSW.