HVO 2009 Annual Environmental Management Report - Final

Coal & Allied – Hunter Valley Operations
Work Transition Initiative. The programme will pilot a range of strategies to support Aboriginal students to
identify and gain experience in appropriate education and/or training and employment pathways to enable
them to achieve their goals after secondary school. Both projects will commence in Term one, 2010.
Parents and Learning (PaL) programme commenced operation in Muswellbrook. PaL supports
indigenous parents of pre-school age children to get involved with their child’s learning through weekly
home visits by a PaL tutor, who delivers books, instruction kits and educational games. PaL is expected
to directly contribute to higher number of enrolments of indigenous children in pre-schools in
Muswellbrook in 2010 and beyond.
Two existing ADCC projects - Upper Hunter Skills Development Centre (UHSDC) and the Indigenous
Jobs Market (IJM) again attracted support in 2009. UHSDC continues to place Aboriginal people into
employment in the mining industry and with ADCC funding has developed a mentoring programme. The
IJM, brought more than 1,500 job seekers and school students together with 50 employers and further
education and training providers in Newcastle in June.
In addition to funding these initiatives through the ADCC, broader engagement by HVO with Aboriginal
communities has included:
Strengthened relationships with labour hire contractors and relevant Indigenous employment providers to
continue to provide training and employment opportunities at HVO for Aboriginal people.
Human Resources teams and labour contractors were linked to the NSW Government programme, ‘The
Way Ahead’. This programme provides workplace mentoring for Aboriginal people undertaking
traineeships and apprenticeships.
In 2009, Aboriginal people continued to take up Certificate Two Surface Coal Operations traineeships. At
the end of 2009, all the trainees had either successfully completed or were continuing to achieve in their
traineeship. Planning was also undertaken to implement an Administration Traineeship early in 2010.
Work has continued with NovaSkill to attract a higher number of suitable Aboriginal candidates to apply
for Coal & Allied apprenticeships and Coal & Allied have continued to build the level of involvement by
Aboriginal organisations in the recruitment process. Coal & Allied have strengthened their relationships
with NSW TAFE in order to access relevant additional tuition and/or other support for Apprentices in their
studies.
Coal & Allied have continued to engage Newcastle Knights players in relevant ADCC and broader
Aboriginal programmes. This has brought tangible benefits to students involved in the Ka-Wul project and
NAIDOC week activities. Coal & Allied played a key role in first time events and new initiatives during the
NRL Close the Gap round and are continuing to contribute through our membership of a Steering
Committee established by the Knights to drive their engagement with Aboriginal communities in the
Hunter region.
Coal & Allied have played an active role in key indigenous, government, education, industry and
community networks. This is contributing to our ability to stay informed about changes in government
policies and programmes, establish relationships with relevant local, regional and state bodies and in the
process, has increased Coal & Allied’s ability to identify opportunities for local Aboriginal communities and
increased our ability to leverage benefits for ADCC funded projects.
Coal & Allied are proud of the outcomes being achieved through the work Coal & Allied have done in the past
year and Coal & Allied look forward to continuing to contributing to a sustainable future for Aboriginal
communities in the Hunter region.
AEMR 2009 165