Media Releases
Transcript: Indigenous Scholarship - 6PR Drive
31/01/12
CME Executive Officer for People Strategies, Bruce Campbell-Fraser chats with 6PR Drive Presenter Howard Sattler about the CME-AIM Indigenous Leadership Scholarship Program.
HOWARD SATTLER
An aboriginal elder for whom I had a great deal of respect and did many interviews with, Arnold Franks is his name. Arnold was different in many respects, he certainly went into negotiations with mining companies very very strongly, very firmly, on behalf of his people, not to stop mining development but to actually promote it on the basis of they would reciprocate by employing members of his people. And he had a great deal of success.
Sadly Arnold passed away in December and missed the boat, he was always an engaging interviewer. But I am pleased to say today, and I think it’s worth promoting, that four indigenous resource sector employees have taken a big step forward toward managerial positions within the mining industry. They have won scholarships through the Chamber of Minerals and Energy in partnership with the Australian Institute of Management. From the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, Bruce Campbell-Fraser joins us now, he is the Executive Officer for People Strategies. Are you there Bruce?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
Yeah, I am Howard.
HOWARD SATTLER
How does it work, how do people nominate or were nominated?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
Basically they nominate themselves with the support of their employer, which is so the employer actually identifies them as real talent and they put forward their names and we had a pretty competitive process, we had 25 high quality nominees for 4 positions, and over the past week we have whittled that down to the four successors.
HOWARD SATTLER
So they are people who are already in the resource industry are they?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
One of the requirements is that their already employed in the resource sector. The resource industries employees probably about 4000 indigenous Australians here in WA.
HOWARD SATTLER
Great, that is great news.
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
It has come a long way over recent years. So that real strong leadership by those companies that see this potential workforce and are tapping into that now. One of the things we identified was that Indigenous employees are often stuck at entry level positions, so where we can identify those with talent, successful leaders of the future, we can provide them with that assistance.
HOWARD SATTLER
Did these people already have management roles?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
Some have some supervisory roles but they certainly have the ability to go on and be leaders in their industries and be great role models for their people.
HOWARD SATTLER
Ok and the scholarships where does that take them, what path are they taken down?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
It will take them down a path of leadership, mentoring and management and that involves problem solving. It’s frontline management so it’s really the leading of people as well which is crucial, particularly in our sector, where large employers and we have a lot of turnover in some parts of the industry, so where we can invest time and effort into the talent available we get really good returns.
HOWARD SATTLER
And while it’s all going they still remain with their companies do they?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
That’s right the companies provide them with support and the companies actually get a really good deal because the Chamber through scholarship will be up skilling some of their employees so it is a real win win.
HOWARD SATTLER
And so how long is the course?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
The course goes over a couple of months, but it starts with a 5 days intensive visit to the Institute of Management at the end of February. There is some ongoing mentoring as there is participation in some assessments over a few months and yeah hopefully we get some graduates by the middle of the year.
HOWARD SATTLER
And this is the first of these scholarships there, will be more in the future?
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
We hope to be rolling this out over the years ahead, we are really pleased with the success and how many of our members and industry companies are putting forward really good names.
HOWARD SATTLER
Alright, well I might talk with one of the names, now thanks Bruce.
BRUCE CAMPBELL-FRASER
Good on you Howard.