Putting in place resources for indigenous employment

The Age

Thursday September 3, 2009

By BEN SCHNEIDERS WORKPLACE REPORTER KAKADU

WHEN Gabby Gumurdul started work at the Ranger uranium mine last year he worked one week on and then had a week off. Now Mr Gumurdul, from the remote Northern Territory community of Gunbalanya, typically works 60 hours a week, doing a variety of jobs at the mine.But if he has to return home for family or cultural matters, he can. "Something comes up we'd get the flexibility to go back home," he said.Indigenous unemployment is three times that of the rest of the workforce, the 2006 census showed, and in remote communities it is even worse, with Mr Gumurdul, 33, the rare exception.Yesterday the owner of Ranger, the Rio Tinto-controlled Energy Resources of Australia, said it had more than 100 indigenous employees or about 20 per cent of its workforce. The shift is recent and few large private companies have such a proportion of indigenous staff.Western Australian indigenous leader Peter Yu said far more needed to be done by the mining industry and indigenous employment should make up more than half the workers on remote projects."I don't think it's where it should be at the moment given they are the major industry in these areas," he said.Mr Yu said the issue was complex with an array of social, education, economic and cultural issues retarding employment growth and racism still an issue. Flying workers in and out from elsewhere, while bypassing local people, was also a major problem.ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson said the drive to increase indigenous numbers made good business sense and was "the right thing to do". He said a flexible approach was required. The company does fly in people, including indigenous workers, to prevent the local town, Jabiru, growing too much.But uranium mining remains highly controversial, albeit less so than a decade ago, and is strongly opposed by the local Mirrar people. ERA's massive Jabiluka uranium deposit is near Ranger and the Mirrar declare they do not want it mined due to the "decline of traditional culture" and the destruction of country it would entail. Both sites are surrounded by the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park.Mr Atkinson said no development at Jabiluka would occur without Mirrar approval.The reporter's trip to Kakadu was paid for by ERA.

© 2009 The Age

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