Wednesday, 16 October 2024

 Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (10:05): On Friday last week the Geelong Aboriginal community, in collaboration with many Geelong employers, came together for the inaugural Aboriginal employment expo. It was a huge success, with hundreds of mob attending to check out the employers, skills and training opportunities and the jobs on offer. The expo was led by the Aboriginal community leaders as part of the Aboriginal employment taskforce.

I want to acknowledge and thank everyone involved in making the expo such a great success, with special mention of Marsha Uppill of Arranyinha and Beth Davis from Wathaurong for their dedicated event coordination. This initiative highlighted two years of sitting around the table as a taskforce, which also included three summits and the aim of breaking down employment barriers for Aboriginal peoples. The taskforce members, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, have shown their commitment, support and collaboration, which is driven by the need for self-determination, closing the gap and education of employers. Many of the employers also made a financial commitment as well as having a stall at the expo.

A huge thankyou to the Geelong Football Club and Kardinia Park Stadium Trust for providing the stadium for the expo and Murran Aboriginal hub for providing their venue for the expo launch. A special mention goes to our first responders who participated, Fire Rescue Victoria, who have continued to strongly support the work of the taskforce, and Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria. To the employers who contributed and participated, such as WorkSafe, TAC, Gforce employment – (Time expired)