Dr LIM - 2000-05-16
The report of the Select Committee on Territory Food Prices commented on the possibility of Coles Myer providing training of community stores managers and assistants at Coles supermarkets. Indeed, I understand that Coles Myer has now made an offer to assist the Northern Territory community stores. Would the minister please outline the purpose and benefits of this offer?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex who was the chairman of that select committee. We all know the amount of work and effort he put into that. Subsequent to that committee meeting, Coles Myer did make an approach to the Office of Aboriginal Development to look at the ways that they could assist community stores to run their businesses - training opportunities and things like that. I am very pleased to say that with negotiations and with visits by Coles Myer people out to community stores, there is some real action happening out in Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Land Council area.
There are two primary areas of interest to Coles Myer. One is assisting stores to provide better service to their clients. The other is in the area of training. A package is being looked at whereby Coles Myer would, in Arnhem Land, take on 24 training places. They would have training on site and in their supermarkets in towns. It is an inside-the-community and outside-the-community proposition. They would develop modules that can be accredited. For those employees that show promise, they would use their own mainstream training packages so that we would eventually have these well-qualified trained managers and supervisors within community stores.
As they went around the communities, they discovered a huge amount of purchasing power. When we think of the economic collective power of communities getting together to purchase, the opportunity is there. Coles Myer has also indicated that it will work with communities to address that particular area.
This is a great initiative on the part of Coles Myer and people in Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands. I would be hopeful that when we get it off the ground it will expand to other communities in the Territory. Mr Alan Williams, who will be in Darwin at the end of this month for the Chief Minister’s forum, and who is a business representative on that particular forum, is hopeful that by then a final agreement will have been made between Coles Myer and, in particular, the Arnhem Land Progress Association. All being well, that training scheme could be up and running by 1 July.
I am quite sure that everyone in this House sees this as an excellent initiative on the part of Coles Myer. It’s an initiative that says: ‘Yes, we will provide training and employment for Aboriginal people’. It is being done, as I see, as a precursor to other business communities out there getting involved in Aboriginal communities, because there is huge economic development growth out there in the communities at the moment. I commend Coles Myer for their foresight.
I commend the select committee, because if it had not been for that, this whole thing would have never have taken place. Coles Myer have been alerted to the problems out there in the community stores and the way in which they can actually assist communities. Let’s hope that there is a strong and fruitful partnership between Coles Myer and some of these communities. I commend OAD in the amount of work they have done to make sure this all comes about, and I commend this initiative to members.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex who was the chairman of that select committee. We all know the amount of work and effort he put into that. Subsequent to that committee meeting, Coles Myer did make an approach to the Office of Aboriginal Development to look at the ways that they could assist community stores to run their businesses - training opportunities and things like that. I am very pleased to say that with negotiations and with visits by Coles Myer people out to community stores, there is some real action happening out in Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Land Council area.
There are two primary areas of interest to Coles Myer. One is assisting stores to provide better service to their clients. The other is in the area of training. A package is being looked at whereby Coles Myer would, in Arnhem Land, take on 24 training places. They would have training on site and in their supermarkets in towns. It is an inside-the-community and outside-the-community proposition. They would develop modules that can be accredited. For those employees that show promise, they would use their own mainstream training packages so that we would eventually have these well-qualified trained managers and supervisors within community stores.
As they went around the communities, they discovered a huge amount of purchasing power. When we think of the economic collective power of communities getting together to purchase, the opportunity is there. Coles Myer has also indicated that it will work with communities to address that particular area.
This is a great initiative on the part of Coles Myer and people in Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands. I would be hopeful that when we get it off the ground it will expand to other communities in the Territory. Mr Alan Williams, who will be in Darwin at the end of this month for the Chief Minister’s forum, and who is a business representative on that particular forum, is hopeful that by then a final agreement will have been made between Coles Myer and, in particular, the Arnhem Land Progress Association. All being well, that training scheme could be up and running by 1 July.
I am quite sure that everyone in this House sees this as an excellent initiative on the part of Coles Myer. It’s an initiative that says: ‘Yes, we will provide training and employment for Aboriginal people’. It is being done, as I see, as a precursor to other business communities out there getting involved in Aboriginal communities, because there is huge economic development growth out there in the communities at the moment. I commend Coles Myer for their foresight.
I commend the select committee, because if it had not been for that, this whole thing would have never have taken place. Coles Myer have been alerted to the problems out there in the community stores and the way in which they can actually assist communities. Let’s hope that there is a strong and fruitful partnership between Coles Myer and some of these communities. I commend OAD in the amount of work they have done to make sure this all comes about, and I commend this initiative to members.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016