PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER PRESS STATEMENT NO. 94
May 1973
ABORIGINAL EMPLOYMENT
The Australian Government will take steps to recruit
Aborigines into the Australian Public Service.
A team of senior officers from the Public Service Board
and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs will leave on Sunday for
several weeks of field investigations on employment opportunities for
Aboriginals in the Public Service.
The Board has already established an inter-divisional
committee to co-ordinate activities on the recruitment of Aborigines.
It is also holding discussions with the Departments of Labour and
Aboriginal Affairs on details of training and placement of Aborigines
in the Public Service. A recruitment booklet for distribution among
Aborigines has been prepared by the Board and regular surveys of the
numbers of Aboriginals in the Public Service will be carried out.
The two-man team which will leave to study recruitment will
comprise an officer of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and an
officer of the Public Service Board's Organisation Division. It will
conduct joint inspections of jobs performed by Aboriginals on Aboriginal
reserve communities near Alice Springs, Katherine and Darwin to determine
their stability for incorporation into the Public Service.
The inspection will be followed by detailed discussions
with senior officers from Public Service departments located in Darwin.
In their visits to Aboriginal reserve communities near
Katherine and Darwin, the team will be accompanied by another officer
of the Public Service Board who will be consulting with Aboriginal
community spokesmen and departmental officers on difficulties faced
by Aboriginals in seeking Public Service employment.
Consultations will also be held with departmental officers
in Darwin, Brisbane and Sydney, on the placement and training of
Aboriginals and on proposals for regular surveys of the numbers of
Aboriginals employed in the Public Service.
CANBERRA. AOC. T.