Participants

The potential participants on Beyond Billabong programs are the many Aboriginal communities spread throughout the regional areas of Australia which all too often have social and economic barriers which make it difficult for persons to gain sustainable employment.

Problems experienced by members of these communities include:

• Limited job opportunities
• Lack of appropriate skills
• Poor attitude to work
• Lack of incentive to work
• Lack of direction
• Lack of purpose
• Poor Numeracy and Literacy Skills

There are a number of reasons giving rise to these problems, but more importantly, these issues lead to serious and substantial social and health problems within the communities.  This has been documented and re-documented, analysed and reported upon in numerous reports and studies.

Potential participants in Beyond Billabong programs suffer a range of physical and social problems that create an effective barrier to workplace participation and full-time employment.  Unless these issues are dealt with the prospects of full-time employment for the individual are remote.  The lack of Indigenous participation in the regional economies has led and will continue to lead to the perpetuation of welfare dependency.

Beyond Billabong aims to address the issues of life skills development and attitudes to work as a precursor to further vocational training and employment.

Beyond Billabong programs are different from other programs in that:

• Participants are actively engaged through the use of sporting and vocational activities that ‘Romance them into Training’
• A commitment to support and mentor the participants for the rest of their lives
• A focus on the individual’s personal growth
• Partnering with industry to achieve real job outcomes in which Beyond Billabong will provide support and mentoring to both the employer and the employee