Indigenous students produce Kurbingui Star

Ten Indigenous jobseekers now call themselves ‘budding STAR reporters’ thanks to paid work experience at Kurbingui’s Star Newspaper and funding from a Queensland Government initiative.

Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations John Mickel said the Kurbingui Youth Development Association Inc was granted $147,000 under the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative to coordinate the 20 week work placement project.

“This work project aligns itself with the Toward Q2 vision of a stronger fairer Queensland by giving Aboriginals or Torres Strait Islanders an opportunity to produce and report news and increase representation of Indigenous Australians in the media,” Mr Mickel said.

“The Accredited Training these students receive through a Certificate III in Business Administration gives them the skills and confidence to enter the workforce and increase their chances of finding quality employment.”

Member for Nudgee Neil Roberts said the project was designed to improve the employment prospects of the Indigenous jobseekers through the development, design and production of the bi-monthly Kurbingui Star community newspaper.

“Kurbingui continually strives for excellence and has been delivering employment programs in this electorate since 2003 which has helped broaden student’s visions and work experience,” he said.

Kurbingui Manager Sue Perel said the group had worked two days a week at Kurbingui undertaking tasks such as business administration, collection and collation of stories, research and general office tasks.

“The other two days were spent at the Southbank Institute of Technology learning computer skills and basic business skills to assist them in broadening their skills base,” Ms Perel said.

“The participants have thoroughly enjoyed their time working on the newspaper and reading the many and varied good news stories that are submitted by our Indigenous community.”

The group will graduate tomorrow (Wednesday) at Buffalo Hall, Seeney Street, Zillmere at 6:00pm in front of family and friends.

During 2008/09 the Queensland Government will invest $80 million in the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative to give an estimated 15,000 long-term unemployed and underemployed people job related assistance and skills training to maximise labour force participation and increase Queensland's prosperity.

Twelve months after receiving assistance 71 per cent of participants are in employment or further training.

The Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative is part of the State Government’s

$1 billion Queensland Skills Plan which aims to provide individuals and industry with the skills and workforce for the 21^st Century.

For more information on the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative visit www.employment.qld.gov.au or call 1300 369 925

Contact: Kurbingui Employment Officer Rachel Bobir on 3265 2055 or employment@kurbingui.org.au

Member for Nudgee: 3260 5326

Media contact: David Robertson on 3235 4060

December 2, 2008