Building an Australian Indigenous Mining Workforce with Competency Based Training in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) System

Abstract

The Australian mining industry is undergoing resurgence in economic development, and the high demand for additional skilled workers is reflected in employment strategies targeting Indigenous people in remote regions of the nation. Driven by legislative reforms during the 1990s mining companies are installing educational vocational programs for Indigenous communities and this paper provides primary data of five Indigenous people who successfully transitioned an inaugural unique [vocational education and training] VET scheme to become full time operators at the Pacific Aluminium refinery at Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula of the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. The presented evidence challenges simplistic assumptions the delivery of VET programs to Indigenous people will facilitate their employment at remote Australian mining operations.