Australia funds new scheme

AUSTRALIA is funding a new scheme aimed at creating jobs in the tourism and transport sectors in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
The Pacific growth and employment project will be run in partnership with the International Labour Organisation and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ged Kearney, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), told Radio Australia that it was a unique project because it involved a partnership between the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the ACTU.
“We have joined together because we saw a real need in the Pacific, particularly, within the area of youth unemployment,” Kearney said.
“This project has been planned for quite a number of years, when we saw that Australian industry played an active role in the Pacific in terms of providing services around those two areas.
“And we thought well, why don’t we use that presence in the Pacific, in particular, to help young people access jobs through these industries, because they are large as you can imagine.”
Kearney said the new scheme was part of a larger project by the International Labour Organisation and the Australian government.
“There’s more than a million dollars  directed into this project, but nevertheless, we are very committed and we will do our best to set up structures which will help the young people get  jobs.
“We can’t state exactly how many jobs this will create but, what we can say is that, we are looking seriously at how people are having trouble, particularly young people, in getting jobs.”