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  2. 5. Investing in First Nations Businesses and Suppliers: Building the Indigenous economy
  3. Maximise training and employment opportunities

Maximise training and employment opportunities

Established access to well-designed employment and training pathways, competitive salaries, high levels of collaboration, and cultural awareness should be a key focus for proponents wanting to compete with regional and remote area jobs in mining.

Maximising training and employment opportunities for First Nations people from the Traditional Owner groups on whose land or sea the project is being built, as well as from surrounding communities, provides a ready-set-go employment pool from which to draw upon in the local area, and firms up trusting relationships.

Building longer-term employment and skill development (‘careers not jobs’) is also a primary pathway to generational change and wealth building for First Nations Australians.

Proponents can implement enabling measures, including:

  • Developing a community of practice for First Nations suppliers to collaborate and share knowledge on participation in the project 
  • Developing industry support programs: such as embedding project officers for recruitment and training 
  • Ensuring place-based collaborations between industry, First Nations organisations and training bodies
  • Funding capacity building programs which support the creation of First Nations businesses
  • Hosting apprentices in and across projects 
  • Implementing long-term commitments to First Nations cadetships
  • Improving cultural awareness through greater take-up of Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPS) and equivalent commitments 
  • Increasing cultural competency through incentives, funding and tender requirements.
  • Leveraging procurement and voluntary commitments to increase demand for First Nations workers
  • Meeting First Nations employment and training targets in programs such as the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) and in Renewable Energy Zones (REZs)
  • Providing support for First Nations businesses to participate in clean energy projects through capacity building for tendering

Following building a relationship with the Wiradjuri people of Narrandera in NSW, renewable energy companies Beon Energy Solutions (Beon) and Iberdrola Australia successfully employed more than 30 local First Nations people in the construction phase of their 245 MW Avonlie Solar Farm, located 20 kilometres south of Narrandera.

In 2021, Beon was contracted by Iberdrola Australia to build the Avonlie Solar Farm. For several months before construction began in December 2021, Beon undertook extensive engagement with the local First Nations Wiradjuri community. 

To coordinate this process, Beon employed a local Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman who was well-known to the local Wiradjuri community, as the company’s community engagement coordinator.

With the help of the community engagement coordinator, and the early focus on establishing a respectful relationship between key Beon staff and the local Wiradjuri elders, the company committed the Avonlie project to providing employment and skills development opportunities for Wiradjuri people.

With the support of Wiradjuri elders, Beon hosted community meetings and barbecues as its way of introducing themselves to the local Wiradjuri community.

Through these engagement activities, Beon realised that if they were going to be successful in employing Wiradjuri people, they would need to address some of the barriers to employment they were facing. For example, many community members, particularly women, had limited prior experience of formal employment due to a range of factors such as extensive caretaking responsibilities. Some community members did not have the official documents needed to register for tax file numbers and superannuation accounts.

To help the local people become job ready, Beon held an ‘ID (identity) day’ at the local TAFE for community members interested in gaining employment at the Avonlie project site. The ID day assisted community members to secure documentation (e.g. birth certificates and Medicare cards) needed to obtain requisite employment credentials such as White Cards. 

Beon also provided a week of pre-employment training which addressed topics such as health and safety in the workplace. The local Wiradjuri community supported this training by organising childcare for participants.

Building confidence and encouraging and supporting community members to pursue employment at the solar farm was key to Beon securing a local First Nations construction workforce for the Avonlie Solar Farm project.

As a result of Beon and Iberdrola Australia’s community engagement efforts, more than 30 First Nations men and women were employed in the construction of Avonlie Solar Farm. 

At the conclusion of the construction phase, Beon helped Wiradjuri employees secure new jobs with other local solar PV projects. In some cases, based on the experience gained with the Avonlie project, employees were able to find work with other local employers such as the local council.

The Avonlie project has been described by Narrandera’s Wiradjuri community as bringing ‘generational change’. Project employment allowed individuals to better provide for their families and extend support to their wider community. 

In addition to the employment outcomes, Beon’s management of the construction project helped deliver other benefits such as the installation of rooftop solar on the local Aboriginal corporation’s Gundyarri building and on five community-owned homes. The legacy of this will be permanently reduced electricity bills for these households. For local Wiradjuri people, there is pride in their community’s involvement in the project, often expressed in comments made to their children as they drive by the solar farm.

Iberdrola Australia and Beon have committed to further expanding this engagement approach in any future renewable construction projects pursued together.

The Beon and Iberdrola Australia case study demonstrates the value of genuine and early engagement with First Nations people. For First Nations people, this value leads to wide ranging, intergenerational benefits such as jobs, which in turn leads to greater self-esteem, empowerment and self-determination.

For clean energy project developers and their contractors, building effective relationships with First Nations communities offers a realistic pathway to securing community support for clean energy developments. Beon’s commitment to employing the Wiradjuri labour force helped generate long lasting

First Nations community support for the Avonlie project, thereby contributing to the project’s social licence.

“The Avonlie Solar Farm has been a great example of how projects like these and proper Aboriginal engagement based on trust and respect, can not only benefit Aboriginal communities, but also benefit the projects themselves by getting good workers and community support.” - Gundyarri Aboriginal Corporation

First Nations people sometimes face significant structural barriers to obtaining employment. Beon’s approach to working with Narrandera’s Wiradjuri community to overcome these barriers required Beon to move away from simple transactional interactions to more authentic relationship building activities. Activities such as employing local First Nations people to engage with their community and introducing programs supporting individuals through the employment process built the necessary links with the community. Above all, Beon’s work on the Avonlie Solar Farm project demonstrated commitment to improving the cultural competency of their own organisation.

Overall, what this engagement process with the local Aboriginal community illustrates is that meaningful engagement and the creation of training, employment, and business opportunities, is not only the right thing to do and good for local communities, but it is also good for business.

Source: First Nations Clean Energy Strategy

Offering training programs, financial support, development opportunities and career pathways both empower First Nations and help create stronger, more inclusive industries. Training and employment programs need to embed additional support mechanisms to successfully recruit and retain First Nations people in the energy industry.

CitiPower & Powercor’s First Peoples Pre-apprenticeship Scholarship provides a pathway for applicants to enter a Certificate II at TAFE, assisted by a scholarship of $2000 – recognising the financial barriers that can block access to education.

These scholarships assist with costs such as tools, clothing, rent, childcare, or supplementing income during study. 

The scholarship also includes a specialised practical training week at CitiPower and Powercor depots. This hands-on experience includes trying out some of CitiPower and Powercor’s power tools, and site visits, with students receiving personal protective equipment (PPE).

Additional training provided to remove barriers to employment includes practical job application assistance, including help with cover letters, CVs, and interview preparation. 

CitiPower and Powercor’s Pre-Apprenticeship Program is taking deliberate steps to create opportunities, foster understanding, and building a shared future with First Nations.

Source: https://explorecareers.com.au/energy-careers-for-first-peoples/