Initiative helps job seekers gain skills and experience to obtain employment
Well-known Western Australian trucking proponents are assisting a delivery and employment campaign in the state.
Established in mid-2017 by East Kimberley Job Pathways (EKJP), owned in partnership by Wunan Aboriginal Corporation and the Kununurra Region Economic Aboriginal Corporation, Revive operates as a ‘Waste to Wages’ social enterprise.
Shadow Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Labor Senator for Western Australia Glenn Sterle, state transport body Western Roads Federation (WRF) CEO Cam Dumesny, furniture removalist Keys – The Moving Solution, and port operator ACFS Port Logistics and have linked on the project.
A truck donated by ACFS is used to haul pre-loved and unwanted furniture from Perth to Kununurra to support local families in the East Kimberley as part of the campaign.
“While on wages with Revive, job seekers are supported to gain skills and experience to obtain sustainable employment in the open labour market, which in turn creates opportunities for successive job seekers,” a campaign statement explains.
“The ‘Waste to Wages’ program trains and employs Aboriginal youth to collect and repair recyclable items for their recycling store.
“The workers repair old furniture and push bikes as well as create art out of used materials which are then sold on to the local community at an affordable price.
“Families come from as far away as Balgo, Halls Creek and Kalumburu to purchase these much needed items.
“EKJP underpins all costs associated with operating the enterprise and utilises funds derived through the sale of products, namely furniture, to directly employ vulnerable Aboriginal job seekers on a supported wage.”
Read Sterle’s plea for better trucking rest areas, here
Before entering Parliament, Sterle was a furniture removalist, with a regular run between Perth and Darwin.
“It’s been a long time since I have driven the 3,000 kilometres to Kununurra but I am looking forward to going back to my roots, putting my boots on and getting back behind the wheel to support local Aboriginal families in the East Kimberley and the incredibly important work being done by the Revive Recycling Centre in Kununurra,” Sterle says.
ACFS CEO Arthur Tzaneros donated a brand new 2653 Mercedes Benz Prime Mover with fuel, a trailer and dolly for the journey.
The prime mover is covered in local indigenous livery for the occasion.
Dumesny has assisted with the coordination of the project and is travelling with Sterle to Kununurra and back.
Keys’s Nick D’Adamo and his team in Canning Vale assisted with loading and storing furniture that has been donated by community members and members of the WA Labor Party from across the Perth metropolitan area and as far south as Margaret River.
“In addition to this, Nick has donated a significant amount of extra furniture that will also be delivered and a trailer for it to be transported in,” the statement adds.
“Nick and four of his staff also very generously donated their own time on a Saturday morning recently to load all of the furniture in preparation for departure.
“Senator Sterle would also like to thank Daimler who has donated merchandise to deliver to Kununurra, Senator Louise Pratt for the donation of art supplies which will be delivered during the journey, North West Quarries who are providing accommodation and a BBQ next Tuesday night and Scott Huntsman from All-Cast PPE Supplies who donated 1,800 Australian made medical face masks to support the local community and health practitioners.”