Business Manager Martin Hall had been grappling with two issues for some time. The first was about the  future of the company and how to encourage more young people into the industry. The second was n his personal desire to make a contribution to overcoming Indigenous disparity.

Then Martin attended an AEC business breakfast, where former Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough was a keynote speaker and said that every employer could make a lasting difference with one Aboriginal employee.  It struck a chord for Hornibrook’s young manager and Martin signed on the spot.

Indigenous employment is not new to Hornibrook. They have two Aboriginal bus drivers already, but the expensive need to be qualified before being employed is a real barrier to new, younger bus drivers coming on board.

“We need to give young people a go, but buses cost $500,000 each. So you have to find the balance between the need to have succession planning in place for your workforce and ensuring people are properly trained for the job,” Martin says.

“We have a business to run, but I was very keen to ensure that Hornibrook is playing its part in being inclusive and breaking the cycles of poverty and welfare.”

“Being an AEC employer meant we could start to solve the puzzle that is the Indigenous training system, the job services providers and the needs of our company to bring fresh people through.

“We have been approached by a young unemployed job seeker, Nathan Bird, who wants to be a bus driver but the current training system wasn’t working for anybody.”

“We are working with the AEC and Deadly Solutions Training to bridge the gap between how the system worked previously, the qualifications Nathan needs and what Hornibrook needs as a business.”

“It’s personal for me. I come from a poorer background and I know that good things can come from bad places, so by helping Nathan, we help our company, it is a win-win,” Martin said.

“We expect Nathan’s training to be completed and for Nathan to commence shortly.”

And for bus driver Lloyd Bird, it is also very personal. Lloyd, who is already driving buses, is Nathan’s dad.

“It’s not that Hornibrook doesn’t want Aboriginal workers – there are two of us here already – it’s that the training system for young people to break in is too expensive.”

“We say to our young people that you have to work, it’s not a one way street and everybody has a role to play in getting a job. And that is all true.”

“But getting a bus license can cost $1400.  The job services system doesn’t help with that cost and we couldn’t afford that and Nathan can’t afford it.”

“The opportunities are there and there are young people like Nathan who want to take those opportunities.”

Lloyd has worked all his adult life, but he knows that is not the reality for many Indigenous Australians.

“I like my individuality and independence and I can’t do that if I have no job,” Lloyd says.

“Working is very important for me. I like being a role model for my family and it is the way I was brought up.”

“Black, white or whatever, working and encouraging your children to work and get ahead is a parental thing – a family thing – to do,” Lloyd says.

“I hope that between us all, we can fix these gaps in the system so Nathan and others can follow me and become a bus driver here as well.”

As one of more than 200 AEC employers, Hornibrook Bus lines doesn’t just talk about Indigenous jobs, they create them. Working with the AEC, they are seeking to overcome the gaps in the system so another Aboriginal Australian can participate in sustainable employment.