He had
spent time at Cobham Juvenile Justice Centre at St Marys, in Sydney’s west, after getting on the wrong
side of the law. “I was thieving, I was into drugs and alcohol, I was
hanging out with the wrong crowd,” he says. But then his life underwent a
remarkable transformation.
In
September, Mr Davies was chosen for an eight-week intensive training course
that introduced him to the possibility of a job in the building industry. Under
a program run by the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in
conjunction with the indigenous community, he attended TAFE to learn about
carpentry, plastering, bricklaying, electrical work, forklift driving and
workplace safety.
Others in
his group of 20 quit the course. But Mr Davies persisted and obtained an
apprenticeship as a formworker with Trazmet, working on a stadium refurbishment
at Redfern Park.
After five
years in which 200 young unemployed Aborigines have taken part in the CFMEU
Koori Job Ready Program, the union’s
NSW secretary Andrew Ferguson is appealing for the Rudd Government to fund the
scheme nationally as an act of “practical reconciliation”.
Mr
Ferguson yesterday appealed to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, urging her
to follow last month’s official apology to the Stolen Generations by using the
scheme as a model for young unemployed indigenous people across the nation.
In a
letter to Ms Gillard, Mr Ferguson said the Sydney-based scheme could easily go
national to provide benefits for indigenous communities and the economy.
A
spokeswoman for Ms Gillard, who is also the Minister for Employment, Education
and Workplace Relations, said the proposal would be considered.
Mr Davies
is one of five young formerly unemployed Aborigines provided with
apprenticeships at the Redfern Park site under an agreement with the City of Sydney Council. Head
building company Hansen Yuncken and sub-contractors on the site were required
to sign up successful graduates from the training program as part of their
contracts.
Alex
Walker, a 24-year-old with two children, had been unemployed since leaving
school until he started with the training program. He is now a second-year
apprentice sheet metal worker, employed with Croydon Industries in Sydney’s inner west.
“The
program changed my life,” he said.
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23315204-5006784,00.html