VERTO chief executive, Ron Maxwell, today welcomed the tabling of the 2016 Closing the Gap report.
Mr. Maxwell said as a provider of employment and training services, VERTO was concerned that the reported target to halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade (by 2018) was not on track.
“Employment is integral to improving the lives of individuals and families, and to breaking transgenerational disadvantage,” Mr. Maxwell said.
“It improves the social well-being of communities and builds positive self-esteem and independence.
“VERTO has a proud record of assisting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people into training and employment, and we look forward to continuing this extremely valuable work in light of this report.
“For example, through our New Careers for Aboriginal People program (which VERTO hosts in the Mid-Western Region of New South Wales (NSW)) we achieved 117 per cent of the target for employment outcomes for the last six months of 2015 and over 500 per cent of the target for training outcomes for the same period.
“Furthermore, over 12 per cent of our training services students identify as ATSI, which is 10 per cent more than the national average for other providers.
“The release of the 2016 Closing the Gap report deepens our commitment to employment and training for ATSI people across NSW,” Mr. Maxwell said.
NB: The Mid-Western Region includes Bathurst, Blayney, Cowra, Forbes, Lithgow, Oberon, Orange, Parkes, Young and surrounds, and the Lachlan and Weddin areas.
