Northern Sydney Aboriginal Social Plan

5. Employment
The need for meaningful employment for Aboriginal
people is one of the major fi ndings from the
consultation process. It has been demonstrated in
Census data that Aboriginal residents of the Northern
Sydney region experience higher unemployment
rates than the rest of the community (7% compared
with 4% for non-Aboriginals), but at signifi cantly lower
rates than the national average unemployment rate of
24% for Aboriginal Australians. However, Aboriginal
people in employment tend to work in lower paid,
lower skilled areas. A majority of Aboriginal people in
the Northern Sydney region work in service provision.
Aboriginal professionals account for only 18% of
Aboriginal population compared to 29% of the non-
Aboriginal population. Census data also indicates
that relatively few Aboriginal people are in key roles
such as managers or administrators, but rather tend
to work as trades people, labourers and in lower
paying jobs in general.
Consultations indicate that Aboriginal people believe
equal economic participation is essential if they are
to regain their self-respect and autonomy. Aboriginal
people are seeking access to a similar range of
choices as the rest of the community. To achieve this,
there is a need for local community development to
assist people entering the workforce, seeking career
advancement, or starting a small business.
Another concern raised during consultations is
inadequacy of resources applied to Aboriginal
designated positions in the Northern Sydney region.
Due to the low recorded numbers of Aboriginal
people in the Northern Sydney region, it is common
for workers to be employed on a part-time basis
and for positions to cover a broad geographical
region incorporating Northern Sydney and the
Central Coast. Aboriginal workers in these positions
often experience high workloads and the additional
pressure of requests to take on extra roles outside
the scope of their offi cial duties. Being part of the
community that they are serving makes it harder
to ration their services and establish a realistic
workload, which in turn leads to “burn out” and high
turnover.
Northern Sydney councils could become more
proactive in employing Aboriginal workers and
providing traineeships. Two strategies that are in
place to assist councils in this process include:
Aboriginal Employment in Practice
Support Strategy (AEIPSS)
The NSW Premier’s Department, in partnership
with the Australian Government’s Department
of Employment and Workplace Relations, offers
fi nancial assistance to Public Sector agencies and
local councils for the employment of Aboriginal
people. The AEIPSS aims to:
• Assist Public Sector agencies and local councils
in improving quality of service and program
outcomes, through employment of Aboriginal
people.
• Assist Public Sector agencies and local councils
in ensuring they have the workforce needed to
meet current and future service and program
requirements. The focus is on entry and front
line service jobs.
• Help strengthen partnerships between Public
Sector agencies, local councils and Aboriginal
communities through Aboriginal employment.
The Strategy provides a one-off payment to
employers that recruit Aboriginal people to 12 month
traineeships and full time on going employment.
page 40
Northern Sydney Aboriginal Social Plan 2007-2011