The West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Black Swan State Theatre Company, West Australian Opera and the West Australian Ballet each received a portion of the 650,000 shares from the Forrest family, currently valued at $3.64 million.

Mr Forrest said he hoped the gift would help Western Australia’s four major performing arts companies to grow and develop. “We are fortunate in Western Australia to have an exciting and dynamic arts community and are delighted to support our local arts companies and help them to continue to bring performing arts of the highest calibre to all West Australians,” he said.

“Nurturing and supporting local arts companies is essential to maintaining and sustaining a strong and vibrant arts sector here in WA,” said WASO Chief Executive Craig Whitehead. “Together with our colleagues, I am very grateful to Andrew and Nicola Forrest for this generous donation which will assist WASO in developing our private giving program and ensuring financial sustainability, particularly during difficult economic times.”

“Arts companies, like all non-profit organisations, require philanthropic support to be able to continue to be a part of a thriving arts community,” Mr Whitehead explained. “Each of WA’s major performing arts companies rely on income from ticket sales, government funding and corporate support in order to survive. However it is not enough and philanthropic support is becoming increasingly important. The gift made by Andrew and Nicola Forrest will make a real difference to each company’s ability to grow and develop.”

Kate Cherry, Artistic Director of Black Swan State Theatre Company said, “Andrew and Nicola Forrest are true Australian champions in providing this amazing support to Black Swan State Theatre Company during an unprecedented period of growth in our inaugural year at the new State Theatre Centre of WA.”

Each company intends to utilise their gifts in different ways. WA Ballet General Manager, Steven Roth, concurs with his colleagues that this gift is very generous and highlights the strong leadership shown by Andrew and Nicola Forrest with regard to private giving in WA. Some shares will assist in the completion of the new ballet centre in Maylands, as well as longer term capacity by providing a strong base for the Company’s endowment.

Carolyn Chard, General Manager of West Australian Opera said, ‘The board and management recognise the significance of this contribution which adds great comfort to the company’s ability to plan for the future. Andrew and Nicola’s personal interest in our companies together with their leadership gift and their desire to make a difference in the cultural sector in Western Australia is greatly appreciated.’

For more information please contact:
Paula Schibeci
Public Relations Manager
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Tel: (08) 9326 0061   Mob: 0417 915 235
schibecip@waso.com.au

Businesses, large or small, are vitally important in the fight to overcome indigenous disadvantage and the change can start small. In the beginning, it might be a couple of employees here and there, holding down jobs on equal terms with any other employee; no free ride will do—this has got to be business.

Over time, social change will come about one person and one household at a time.

Indigenous Australians should stop waiting for someone else to fix things. We should take action at a personal level and dream of a better life—in this lifetime. For some, that will mean getting a job. For others it will mean an end to acceptance of second-rate conditions.

The trick is for us to see ourselves as equals and then work out the steps to get there. After all, isn’t that how social change starts—just with a handful of people wanting a better life and doing something about it?

Dependence on government has proven to be unhelpful and we will never see social improvements in our lifetime if we wait for all indigenous Australians to reach some sort of consensus on what to do.

For decades, indigenous people have been indulged through various political distractions and smokescreens so as a nation we have avoided tackling the wicked problems that confront us. Between the bureaucracy and despair it is no wonder things went badly in the first place and are now taking too long to improve.

I cannot accept that the solution to overcoming indigenous disadvantage relies on more dollars—the dollars always come with strings and some of those strings may be very poorly conceived. Instead, I believe, the solution is to be found at a very personal level.

The problems of outback indigenous people are complex and it is important we do everything we can to solve them. But just for a moment, let’s focus on the 80% of indigenous Australians who live in the towns and cities, mostly around the coast.

Australia is enjoying a strong economy and low unemployment, so it seems logical that urban indigenous people should be able to participate in that economy by teaming up with the business sector. But, you might say, if it was as easy as it sounds, then surely it would have happened by now. The reality is that both indigenous people and mainstream businesses need assistance to work together to overcome some very real social obstacles. These obstacles are significant, but not insurmountable.

Collectively, we could change our outlook and instead of emphasising the negative of indigenous unemployment we could develop ways to connect business with an untapped indigenous workforce. Successful businesses grow by overcoming obstacles, so it makes sense to apply the same sort of dedication to overcoming indigenous disadvantage.

We can take the problem and redefine it as a type of supply and demand. To address the supply, we need to get urban indigenous communities ready to participate in the workforce.

At the same time, to address the demand, we need to work with employers to refine their processes so they are better equipped to attract and retain indigenous workers. There’s nothing special here, it’s just really good human resource management. And in the middle of this, there is a genuine role to be played by government and non-government organisations to provide services to help people make the transition out of welfare and into the real economy.

In a culturally diverse marketplace, it makes good business sense to have a diverse workforce if that helps improve market share. When there is a labour shortage, it makes good business sense to have access to the broadest possible pool of workers.

In the future that I want to see—and sooner rather than later—there will be a decrease in dependency on government and less need for separate systems and services as more indigenous people move into the economy.

The mainstream system of representation can be applied to all Australians—including indigenous Australians. Instead of duplicating systems of representation (and at the same time running the risk of repeating failures of the past) we could cast aside the false hope that governments are able to fix all the problems of indigenous Australia. Instead of worrying about the next welfare payment, people will (as is proper) be more worried about their next holiday or big household purchase.

Right now, without having to wait for government or anybody else, businesses of any size can make a start by hiring indigenous people. Sure, many indigenous people will need some help to move into the economy. But there are processes available now to tackle both the supply and the demand. Substantial social improvements will follow.

As Andrew Forrest said last week at the National Reconciliation Forum: “What stands between us and success? Just us.”

Wesley Aird
This article first appeared in The Age, 24 June 2008
Wesley Aird is a member of the Gold native title group, a board member of the Bennelong Society and convener of The Working Group.

Fairbridge runs a myriad of programs and services for young people and has partnership agreements with dozens of other youth organisations. Fairbridge works with children with a disability, young people at risk, young people with drug problems, the unemployed, young people in our justice system, young people who are struggling with life, indigenous young people and refugees, through to gifted young people. Fairbridge helps young people reach their full potential and bring about long term positive sustainable change in their lives.

Fairbridge uses a holistic approach to working with young people and their families. Services provided range from mentoring, leadership development, life skills, accommodation, education, accredited training, employment opportunities and adventure camps.

Fairbridge also offers:

• Adventure, cultural and environmental team-building activities

• Accredited and facilitated training courses

• Camps for schools, religious, corporate and community groups

• Historical tours and day trips

• Significant regional events and festivals

• Heritage listed cottage accommodation for 350

• Coordination and fully catered weddings and special occasions

• Corporate conferences, functions and events

• Wheelchair friendly holidays for people with disabilities.

All income goes back into creating more opportunities for young people.

Much of angelhands work is the result of the efforts of 15 – 20 dedicated volunteers, who so generously give their time and share their skills. Their efforts both administratively and on various projects go toward helping angelhands to support people affected by homicide and serious interpersonal violence.  Furthermore, angelhands has ongoing partnerships with a number of external organisations, all of which assist it to progress its aim to promote and encourage community awareness and responses conducive to a person’s recovery from trauma and positive experiences of the criminal justice system.

To find out more about the valuable support offered by angelhands, head to their website at www.angelhands.org.au

The con is when Aboriginality is exploited for personal or organisational benefit and it is permitted by either weak, ineffective bureaucracy or an uncritical mainstream Australia. The con operates on a national scale and there are perpetrators and victims on both sides of the cultural divide.

The 2020 Summit saw a revival of the con artists. The same old personalities attempted to hijack the debate and put governance and recognition above overcoming the social scourges affecting Aboriginal people around the country. It is a warped set of priorities that would have symbolism more important than overcoming substance abuse and improving household safety, education and economic participation.
It is easy for well-known personalities to remain at the podium delivering tired old rhetoric. But indigenous Australia has heard that message a thousand times in the past two decades and it isn’t improving anybody’s life. Sadly, there is an industry built around indigenous affairs and many of the stakeholders will fight tooth and nail to keep the status quo.

We now need technically effective programs to overcome indigenous disadvantage. The time has come to call the real problems for what they are and to remove the false barriers.

The old style of administration in indigenous affairs has been marred by a game of dishonesty played by both sides of the cultural chasm. The game is played where there is a benefit to be obtained by one side so long as it is not questioned by the (usually all-too-compliant) non-indigenous accomplice. The perpetrator of this trick is hiding behind a “cultural curtain” and is telling non-indigenous Australians to have absolute trust in everything they are told by an Aboriginal person because, so the scam goes, anything less would be offensive or culturally inappropriate. It establishes a form of behaviour whereby a notion of culture, be it romanticised or perverse, is given greater importance than the lives of human beings.

Such behaviour is dangerous at a societal level. There are millions of mainstream Australians who want to believe in and support the indigenous cause. But offering support without questioning the real priorities is not helpful. Many have been tricked into directing energy into peripheral issues. Instead of being angry when they see shocking images of poverty, neglect and abuse, so many people have allowed themselves to be convinced by high-profile Aboriginal people that they should instead be focusing on representation and some sort of treaty. It is time for mainstream Australia to be critical of the old messages.

At the policy level, the effects are devastating as each year millions of dollars are wasted either on or by indigenous people who trade off their culture for personal or family benefit. Sadly, many non-indigenous bureaucrats either contribute to, or won’t do anything about, this corruption. The defence is a misguided belief that such behaviour is a matter internal to the indigenous community or somehow is founded in Aboriginal culture.

Many policy solutions are wrongly personality-based rather than delivering measurable improvements. Instead of being sacked, the architects of these policy failures just do the rounds. There is a small sub-industry in indigenous affairs of bureaucrats who move from department to department or from one level of government to another. The result is that Aboriginal Australians suffer under soft social programs hopelessly incapable of solving complex technical problems. Politicians wanting to “do the right thing” make the easy or popular decisions rather than address the core problems, and year after year the scam continues.

There are many high-profile indigenous people who continue to benefit through this form of theatre in front of the uncritical masses. The past 20 years appear to have been a wasteland in terms of practical leadership and innovation. However, during this era, many so-called Aboriginal leaders have had the ear of the federal, state and territory governments, they have had access to big business and they have been well funded without having to produce an outcome. Opportunities, goodwill and billions of dollars have been squandered.

The common rule for sport and business is that you either perform or you are replaced. That is how teams and companies maintain a path of improvement. But for some bizarre reason this rule doesn’t apply to indigenous affairs. Instead foisted upon us year after year is the same technical incompetence.

It’s time for a new approach: eschew the personalities and tackle the problems.

As a nation our goal should be to overcome indigenous disadvantage within 10 years; to say it is going to take a generation to turn around is defeatist rubbish. I would suggest anyone advocating change over a generation or two is most likely trying to secure their own working future through into retirement (or maybe they are doing a post-doctoral longitudinal study of an indigenous community somewhere).
It is time to apply technical solutions to technical problems. Under the new approach we need people with the technical capacity to bring about substantial and sustainable improvements. The people with the necessary skills may not be Aboriginal and no doubt this will horrify the old guard. The important thing is to get the right skill set. Highly influential indigenous leaders will resist this at all costs, as it will undermine their profiles. But we must be able to recognise a con.

Change will not come any time soon unless we cast aside failed ideologies of the past and programs that cannot demonstrate measurable improvements. Community-level solutions are required to address substance abuse, improve education and enhance economic participation. It may well be that some form of representation is necessary if it is connected to community-level solutions, but let’s not have the tail wag the dog; the last thing we need is a reinvention of Aborigines Talking Shit In Canberra (ATSIC).

I would suggest the real action doesn’t even happen in Canberra. It is the states and territories that have carriage of responsibility for the important day-to-day services which have the greatest influence on the quality of life for indigenous people. Even though most self-respecting activists probably love to hate the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, it is the states and territories that deliver (with varying degrees of success) services such as policing, health, education and housing. When these services are neglected, entire communities suffer and people live without hope.

This is another example of the misguided outcomes from the 2020 Summit. The summit’s emphasis of federal bipartisan support for indigenous affairs is not all that relevant, considering it is the Labor Party heads of states and territories that are consistently under-performing through ill-conceived, ad-hoc programs designed to market action rather than actually solve problems. In each jurisdiction substantial changes are needed to their methods of operation.
There’s not much the federal Opposition Leader can do about that. Under the new approach we need to hold accountable the states and territories.
The paralysing effect of consultation is yet another problem on the list of con jobs that must be managed. The trend in recent years has seen indigenous programs subject to debilitating consultation, as if for some reason Aboriginal communities must reach consensus on all matters. Granted, there are plenty of instances where consultation will improve the effectiveness of a project, however there needs to be a balance between the legal or business outcomes and the benefit of imposing additional time and costs. There isn’t much time to build strong communities when people spend their time in an unending stream of meetings.

Under the new approach we need to hold accountable Aboriginal leaders of communities and organisations. Within their membership or geographic area there must be performance outcomes in the fight to overcome disadvantage. There should be no latitude when people attempt to hide behind or exploit culture while spending taxpayers’ money.

If there is any bureaucrat that questions whether such accountability is appropriate in Aboriginal culture, then we will know the old confidence tricks are still alive and well.

Next time you are at an event and an indigenous person is expounding a course of action; ask yourself who is the real beneficiary and whether what they are proposing will help build safe, vibrant and economic communities.

Wesley Aird
This article first appeared in The Australian, 28 April 2008
Wesley Aird is a member of the Gold Coast Native Title Group and a board member of the Bennelong Society.

Ngala is in contact with approximately 50% of families giving birth in Western Australia every year. Each year about 37,000 families benefit from Ngala’s holistic service approach that covers a range of needs from information, education, family support and early learning and development services including child care, through to therapeutic, individual and family group interventions, including those where children are at risk.

To find out more about Ngala’s services or to make a donation to assist with their wonderful work, head to http://www.ngala.com.au/

Only 24 per cent believe greater access to healthcare, housing and financial assistance is the best way to improve lives.
Research to be released today by GenerationOne, a not-for-profit organisation established by billionaire miner Andrew Forrest, also found two-thirds of Aborigines believed inadequate training and lack of qualifications were a barrier to a career.

When he established the Australian Employment Covenant, Mr Forrest set a target for industry to hire 50,000 indigenous workers. He has now expanded that campaign into GenerationOne to encourage mainstream Australians to become involved in the jobs and training initiative.
In the GenerationOne survey, conducted by Auspoll, indigenous and non-indigenous Australians were asked to identify barriers to employment and careers.

An overwhelming majority, 76 per cent, of indigenous respondents believed the best way to address disadvantage was to provide education, training, mentoring and employment. In the general community, 88 per cent of respondents agreed.

Nearly half the indigenous respondents nominated poor understanding of the formal and informal rules of the workplace as an employment barrier. Sixty-three per cent identified not having the right training and qualifications for the job.

A further 52 per cent agreed that not having the right training was a major contributing factor to unemployment, while 57 per cent named not having someone in the workplace to help them settle in as a career barrier.

“This research demonstrates the pressing need for job readiness, training and support to be aligned with available jobs as demand for indigenous workers increases,” said GenerationOne chief executive Tim Gartrell.

“The gap between job readiness and available jobs is an issue employers consistently raise with the Australian Employment Covenant.”
Three months ago Action Industrial Catering hired indigenous liaison officer Vanessa Heng to mentor Aborigines. The Perth-based company now has seven Aborigines working across the business.

“We come across so many barriers: health problems, no driver’s licence,” Ms Heng said.

“If they show they want to go further we work with them to make it happen.

Patricia Karvelas
From: The Australian
May 24, 2011 12:00AM

A proud, young Wiradjuri woman, Georgina grew up and completed school at Dubbo, the first in her family to finish school and the only Indigenous student in her final year.

“It is difficult as an Indigenous person to go ‘one-out’,” Georgina says. “I didn’t have a single Indigenous friend at school when I finished, which made it harder, but the careers teachers and mum and my family helped me through,”

“I can understand how Indigenous people get trapped by unemployment. Lack of education is much of it and when you grow up, you see parents and Aunties and Uncles who didn’t finish school and didn’t have jobs. It’s easy to think that if they didn’t need a job, you don’t need to either.”

When she left school, Georgina worked in Canberra, in Aboriginal Juvenile Justice – which she said was insightful – and then at the Koomarri Centre helping find jobs for disabled people. When she returned to Dubbo she was a receptionist at the Council and an Aboriginal Medical Centre.

But the job she loves came when her Job Services provider told her about Big W’s innovative new Indigenous employment program, run by Diversity Dimensions, which was a month long training and selection process that had real jobs on offer at the end.

“It made a real difference,” Georgina said. “There were real jobs and we went through the process together helping each other along. Our bosses came in early and made us feel welcome and we knew that if we put in the hard yards it would pay off.”

“It was like a month long interview, but Big W provided training in a way that worked for us. They treated us with respect and in turn made it clear that we had to work hard to earn the jobs.”

Assistant Store Manager at Dubbo, Chris Darcy, says ground breaking recruitment and training process is the best she has ever seen.

“This partnership between Big W, local employment services provider OEC, the Aboriginal Employment Service and Diversity Dimensions – not to mention 13 great and willing jobs seekers, has worked for everybody.’

“We originally only had 9 contracts for the starting group of 14, but we so pleased with the commitment and quality we offered 8 permanent contracts and 6 casual contracts,” Chris said
Originally offered 26 hours a week, Georgina is now on a permanent contract with a full 36 hours. She works in Home Entertainment and she loves it.”

“I was looking for the job that I really enjoy and I think I found it. While I am still learning, I am a people person and this job has me working with lots of people around and serving customers.”
“Everybody pitches in when the work needs to be done, including the Managers.”

“I am a happy person and if someone walks away being happy then I’ve done my job.”
Georgina believes everybody gets something out of Indigenous employment.

“Aboriginal people like to see Aboriginal staff and it says that this company respects them and is prepared to give people a go. It makes local Indigenous people more willing to shop here,” she said.
“I don’t like seeing Aboriginal people living as if they are second class citizens and younger people like me want change. Having a good job is good for me, but it also makes me a role model.”
“My mum and grandmother and sister are very proud of me and I love the work.”

Georgina has completed the “I Proud” course for potential entry as an Indigenous police woman, so she has options that many Indigenous people don’t have. But when asked where she hopes to be in 10 years, Georgina’s answer is clear:

“Here at Big W, but hopefully as a Manager,” she says without hesitation. Georgina has found a career that really suits her and Big W and Diversity Dimensions have an Indigenous employment model that is delivering real results.

Big W is not just talking the talk of Indigenous employment. An AEC employer, Woolworths has been committed to Indigenous employment for some time. This model of specific training for a real, sustainable job is a living demonstration the AEC’s preferred model for Indigenous employment.