Jack Thompson and ACTU in indigenous jobs drive

Jack Thompson has struck an agreement with the ACTU to try to help young Aboriginal people find jobs through trade apprenticeships.

Image: Michael Long and Jack Thompson with plumbing apprentices, left to right, Ramone Watson, Basil Sibosado and Sheen Kitty in Melbourne. Picture: Stuart McEvoy Source: The Australian

And, as the veteran actor signed a memorandum of understanding with ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence, he took a swipe at the federal government, saying it wasted millions on administration and consultants.

He said that two years ago the Jack Thompson Foundation approached the government for $300,000 to buy tools and equipment for Aboriginal workers. The application was rejected, but the government then spent $500,000 to study the foundation's approach to unemployment and housing shortages in communities.

The agreement between the ACTU and the Jack Thompson Foundation gives peak union backing to indigenous apprenticeship programs started independently by the Plumbing Trades Employees Union and the Electrical Trades Union.

Thompson called the agreement "a natural and important and wonderful alliance" while Mr Lawrence said it was an exciting partnership.

They were joined by former AFL star Michael Long and PTEU secretary Earl Setches, who said his union had spent $8 million to establish an apprenticeship program aimed at lifting sanitation standards in remote communities linked to chronic health problems.

Thompson said: "What we have here in this alliance . . . is the beginning of something very important. It deserves to be seen as a very important initiative for this or any other government."

Thompson said his foundation was based on asking Aborigines what their needs were. "We learn who they are and we respect who they are and we provide them with what they need," he told The Australian. Many other programs suffered poor communication and millions were soaked up by administration costs.

"If that type of funding was made available to programs like these, that actually work and produce results, then that money would be appropriately spent."

The foundation launched in 2007 when Thompson was approached at the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land to support culturally appropriate projects.

Stuart Rintoul The Australian

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