Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You're In or You're Out
Aboriginal Australian employment is very low within the mining industry. Some argue that
training programs for Aboriginal Australians - attempts to settle Australia's most disad-
vantaged into the western working life - have not proved effective. Mining magnate
Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest (whom Forbes labelled Australia's richest man in 2010) in 2008
boldly promised support for 50,000 jobs for Aboriginal Australians. This government-
backed program is also one of the most high-profile attempts by a key mining figure to not
only change employment patterns but also speak frankly about the lack of opportunity af-
forded to Aboriginal communities across the state. Just how the 50,000 jobs will be effect-
ively taken up in the long term is yet to be determined, and that will be the tricky bit. By
late 2012, fours years after the program was developed, some 10,000 positions had been
taken up.
It is now more widely acknowledged that the gap between the resource boom-driven
'haves' and 'have-nots' is real and ever increasing, with signs of economic strain creeping
up the social strata. The tension between income and cost of living - strongly driven by the
high cost of housing - has become so tight that some middle-class workers employed on
good salaries struggle to pay the rent. Foreign financial investment is gargantuan, and it
will likely be here for some years to come. But patterns of job losses, however intermittent,
are causing many to wonder aloud how long the good times will last.
In
The Weather Makers
, Tim Flannery argues lucidly and passionately that there is an immediate need to ad-
dress the implications of a global change in climate that is damaging all life on earth and endangering our
very survival. An accessible read.
