Interview with Diat Alferink - 4MW Radio

DIAT ALFERINK, HOST: My name is Diat Alferink, I'm the CEO actually, filling in today as the broadcaster for the radio station, so thank you for being here.

THE HON ANDREW GILES MP, MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING: For me it's an absolute pleasure. I feel very lucky to be in this beautiful part of the world, some way from my home, you know, to deliver a bit of good news, but mostly to get around and do a bit of looking and listening, so hopefully that can come through.

ALFERINK: Yeah, cool. I'll start the official, you know, recording. So here in the studio today we have the Federal Minister for Skills and Training, the Honourable Andrew Giles. Thank you for joining us.

MATT SMITH, ALP CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT: I'm Matt, the ALP candidate for Leichhardt.

DIAT ALFERINK: And Matt, the ALP candidate. Yes, thank you for joining us as well. Two for the price of one. [Foreign words], which is welcome to Radio 4MW, and [foreign words], good morning. Can you tell our listeners why you've made the trip here today and what it is that you've come to share with us? 

GILES: Yeah, well, thanks for such a generous welcome, and for the opportunity to speak with your listeners.

For me, I'm thrilled that Matt has been suggesting that I come up to Thursday Island and the Islands more broadly for some time, and I'm particularly pleased to come here, because we've got a couple of announcements that we're making here. Firstly the $3.5 million investment in the health hub at TAFE, and I'm really excited about this, and even more so having spoken to a few people, because it does answer a question about providing access to the skills for people locally, to get good jobs and the training here, and then to work.

So that health hub, I'm really excited, will be a hundred people every year from individual support, all the way through to nursing, so great qualifications on this Island, I think it's fantastic.

The other thing is we're making an investment with GBK in the Skills for Employment and Education program, $150,000 to make sure that more people in communities across the Torres Strait gain access to some of those foundational skills that are so important, especially digital skills.

So to make those two announcements, but more particularly to listen and to learn, to community leaders and elders, which has been a real privilege.

ALFERINK: So how much of that is it a scoping, I think, is it the original funding is for scoping the needs, is that correct?

GILES: Well, this will allow people to deliver some programs too, because we understand that right around Australia there's a heap of people who haven't developed all of those foundational skills, the literacy, the digital literacy, the numeracy, that we should have helped people get, and we know that in First Nations communities these are learnings that should be delivered in a culturally appropriate way in community.

So that's what this investment is here to make sure that more people can access these skills through community.

ALFERINK: And this is place-based solutions, I suppose?

GILES: Totally, and you know, the Torres Strait is a long way from where I live and work in Melbourne, almost as far from Canberra, quite a long way from Cairns. So understanding what works on the ground, what community is looking for and building partnership. I guess that's how I see my role in the National Government, not so much doing, but enabling really strong partnerships that elevate local voices and local understandings, and I know that Matt's made sure that I'm taking a lot of homework with me when I hop on that ferry in a few hours' time, but it's never going to be about telling, it's going to be about having listened and then trying to work out what role the National Government can play in helping solutions that have been built from the ground up in the Torres Strait.

ALFERINK: For sure. Anything you want to add there? 

SMITH: Look, I just think its great Minister Giles has made his way up here. We had Ged Kearney come up probably two or three months ago and went out to Badu to discuss the dialysis units that are going in up there.

You know, as Andrew said, the Torres Strait is a long way away from Canberra, and it's a beautiful part of the world, it's an important part of the world. It shares the only international border that we have. Obviously you can see, part of New Guinea, from up there, and you can't have a transactional relationship, which is why, you know, we came in yesterday and we had dinner with some of my union members and gave Minister Giles the chance to meet everybody and talk and hear those   the concerns and issues, and the good things that are happening from people directly.  You read a report and that’s one thing, but to come here, you know, Uncle Bongo just took us for a bit of drive around the islands to show us some things. 

So we're really trying to send the message that the Torres Strait is very important, it's important to me personally because of how much time I've spent here and the love that I've been shown, but it's important to Australia, it's important to Leichhardt, and it's important to this Government.

ALFERINK: So in terms of the training skills, I suppose because we are so remote, I mean it is about fitting the needs of the region, I suppose, with tourism as a topic recently, that's come up, obviously an ongoing one, but how Island communities can create industry or diversify the workforce so that there is opportunities that can grow. Is that something that skills training can support, these growing industries?

GILES: Yeah, definitely. I'd say maybe three things about that: I mean I know that there are jobs that are being done here right now, and I've got some really strong feedback that people here would like more of them to be done by locals. So that's my first focus, thinking about education. We've met some great educators down at Lady Gowrie, some doing their TAFE, some doing a Bachelors, and those are terrific stories.

We're going to hopefully facilitate 100 people a year getting other qualifications that will enable them to work here in really good secure jobs or go anywhere with those skills too.

Ideally for more people to be able to stay close to home, because I got really strong feedback around that.

The next one is thinking about what are the visions, what is the vision for the economy here, and how do we help people be really effective participants in that economy.

Now the one thing I won't do is tell community here what that vision is, but my role, and certainly Matt's been guiding me really expertly in this, is to make sure that I'm hearing from people about the sort of industries that people are keen on.

We've just been down at the crayfish factory. I've been talking to a lot of people about skills in the service industry, a lot of the women saying, why can't we build hairdressing, for example, those skills on the island, and tourism is obviously a focus too.

But I mean what I'm determined to do is not to tell anyone what the future is, but to see if the Australian Government can play a clearer role in helping communities have that autonomous capacity to determine their future with the appropriate support from National Government and a fantastic, in my view, local member, is a critical part of that, that's why I'm so pleased to be here with Matt.

ALFERINK: No worries. Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with us about future aspirations of being part of this region and your leadership in it?

SMITH: Oh, I think the big thing is the listening part for whatever we do, particularly within community. For too long I think people have shown up with ideas and enforced or inflicted solutions upon people rather than actually getting a proper consultative co design model.

My role, as I see it, is to have community, wherever it may be, tell me what they want, and then my job is to figure out how that gets delivered, where it fits in the broader scope of things, where it fits in very different streams, because, you know, I come up here semi frequently, but I don't live here.  I don't have any cultural authority here, I don't know or understand the challenges the way that people who are here every day do. And most people I speak to have ideas, they have the answers, we just need to get it all in one place and figure out how it moves forwards.

ALFERINK: Yeah. I think the consistent commitment, I think, isn't it, that we see in government but within our own communities, so we've got all that long term strategy.

GILES: Yeah, long term is exactly what it's about. I was really pleased when I spoke to my neighbour in Melbourne, Minister Ged Kearney, about her visit to Badu, and I've heard a little bit about the difference that's made already.

I know that Malarndirri McCarthy has visited too in the relatively recent past, although not now that she's the Minister for Indigenous Australians.

I know that coming here for me is a real privilege, understanding the voices of cultural authority, getting an appreciation for how much Matt has invested in relationships here, and how he's been a great guide already has given me a real sense of how a local member who's really listening can play a great role.

ALFERINK: Yeah.

GILES: And if I can say one thing: I know that a lot of people feel a long way away from the rest of Australia, and I understand that, but one thing I feel very proud of when I go to a primary school in Melbourne and I hand out our three national flags, which I'm really proud of, I love it when a young child, often a migrant to Australia from another part of the world, explains to their classmates what this beautiful flag that flies over the Torres Strait really means.

So we think of you down south, even if we don't get the opportunity to come up and say hello all that often. I'm really hopeful that Matt in his new capacity in a few weeks, or however long's time, will invite me back to come and complete some of the work that I've started.

ALFERINK: No worries, thank you for your time today.

SMITH: Thank you.

GILES: Thank you.