Forestry project delivers more Tiwi jobs Great Southern Limited has employed an additional nine Tiwi trainees to work in the company’s forestry project on Melville Island.

The new hires mean there are now 18 Tiwi Islanders working full-time in the forestry project. With Great Southern also fully funding the salaries of a further 10 Tiwi people who work as land and marine rangers on the islands, Tiwi employment as a result of the project now stands at 28, or more than 40 per cent of the company’s full-time island based workforce. Andrew Patterson, Great Southern’s General Manager of the Tiwi Forestry Project, said the apprentices would receive comprehensive training which would lead to a recognised forestry qualification.

“These apprenticeships, like the other jobs performed by Tiwis on Melville Island, are real jobs, providing real training and a real future for the Tiwi people, in line with the aspirations of their elders to get young people off welfare and develop a sustainable private economy on the islands,” Mr Patterson said.

“Most of our trainees are also keen footballers, which I think says a lot about the discipline that is instilled in these young people through sport.”

The nine apprentices completed a pre-employment program with the Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board (TITEB) last year, including five units from the nationally accredited Certificate III in Forestry. They will now complete their certificates, working through a course that has been agreed to by Great Southern and which will be delivered by Darwin-based training company Industry Services Training (IST).

TITEB’s Chief Executive Officer Norm Buchan said the training was designed to match the forestry work schedule. “For example, when the apprentices are planting, they will also be learning the theory at the same time,” he said.

The Department of Employment, Education and Workplace relations has funded a full time Literacy and Numeracy lecturer who will work with Great Southern’s Tiwi staff at Maxwell creek over the next 12 months.