Inland Rail has helped local First Nations students get job ready and connected to future employment in the rail industry, including potential future opportunities working on the Inland Rail project, at a special employment forum in Wagga Wagga last week.
Inland Rail staff attended the Clontarf Riverina Employment Forum at the Wagga Rules Club, where local Year 11 and 12 students were inspired by future career paths, training, and employment opportunities in the region.
Inland Rail has already built a strong track record of using local workers and local businesses on the Albury to Illabo and Stockinbingal to Parkes enhancement projects.
Inland Rail Executive Director Program Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability, Stephen Jones touched on the importance of the event.
“Inland Rail is bringing benefits to regional communities throughout construction, with local content key to the program’s success,” he said.
“A major focus of Inland Rail has been to build skills in communities along the alignment, so they can participate and benefit from in this once-in-a-generation project and others in the future.
“Since 2021, our partnership with the Clontarf Foundation has supported the boys that are part of the Clontarf Academies along the Inland Rail alignment, getting them job ready and set up for success in future careers.”
More than 120 local residents have already worked on the projects, 22 of whom were local First Nations people. In addition, 67 local businesses have also supplied goods and services to the project, with $4.2 million spent with local businesses so far, and more to come as construction work continues.
Around 60 young men from eight Clontarf academies attended the special employment forum, where local employers such as Inland Rail, Transgrid, Snowy Hydro, Qube and Visy gave guidance about future work opportunities available in a variety of industries.
The Inland Rail team shared experiences of different career paths in the rail sector from engineering to design and construction and unveiled upcoming opportunities to gain valuable skills and work with Inland Rail as the project continues to be built out in the region.
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