A specific strategy is urgently required for redeploying indigenous workers from the Esperance region who have lost their jobs following BHP Billiton’s closure of its Ravensthorpe nickel mine.  

“Prior to the economic downturn, indigenous unemployment was acknowledged by Federal and State Governments and industry as a very high priority for the nation. Its ranking as a high priority must be maintained,” said CEO Brian Wyatt.  

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show indigenous unemployment at a six-year high of 11.2 per cent, twice the national figure. It’s even higher in remote areas.  

“We estimate that 24 indigenous workers from the Esperance-Ravensthorpe area are affected by the Ravensthorpe mine closure: 9 direct BHP employees and a further 15 who are either employees of contractors to the mine or employed under joint enterprise contracts with Esperance Aboriginal corporations.  

“After waiting decades for recognition that high indigenous unemployment is a wasted national resource, the momentum that recent initiatives such as the Australian Employment Covenant’s 50,000 indigenous jobs program and BHP’s own efforts at Ravensthorpe have provided must not be allowed to falter.  

“It’s a tragedy that any workers have had to be retrenched at Ravensthorpe, indigenous or non-indigenous. But Aboriginal workers are particularly vulnerable because of relatively low skill levels and cultural issues that often make it very difficult to move to other parts of the State in search of work,” Mr Wyatt said.  

The GLSC has been liaising with some members of the taskforce convened to study the fallout from the Ravensthorpe mine closure and impressing upon them the importance of keeping alive the employment prospects of the indigenous workers affected.

Media contact: Brian Wyatt 0417 970413; David Berry 0417 963089