Vic: Young indigenous Mum aims high

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2009
Vic: Young indigenous Mum aims high

By Melissa Jenkins

MELBOURNE, Dec 16 AAP - Young indigenous mum Kaley Nicholson wants her daughters to
know they can achieve anything if they have the passion.

The ambitious 22-year-old has no hesitation in aiming for the top when she finishes
her traineeship at Telstra Country Wide next year.

"It would be nice to be the boss one day," Ms Nicolson told AAP on Wednesday.

"I don't picture that coming on any time soon, but that's where I'm aiming to be."

Ms Nicholson was in Melbourne on Wednesday to celebrate the opening of the first Victorian
office of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES), a program that places indigenous people
in work.

She gave birth to her eldest daughter Shanika when she was 16 years old, and Savanah
three years later.

"When I got pregnant I was in a small country town, and you couldn't really be a big,
pregnant girl at school so I left," she said.

Once Shanika was four, Ms Nicholson returned to school in Geelong, where she is currently
completing her business traineeship.

She figures the best way to show her daughters - and her six younger siblings - that
they can achieve anything is to lead by example.

"Being the eldest of seven and a mother as well, I really didn't want them to make
the silly choices that I made.

"I just want to show them it doesn't matter what you do, you can still come out of it okay.

"I had kids when I was 16, and it doesn't really stop you if you're passionate and
you want to try and you want to do your best, then you can do it."

Ms Nicholson said the obstacles many indigenous people faced when looking for work
included not having appropriate clothing for job interviews and being unfamiliar with
the type of business jargon used.

"It's a totally different culture than what we have at home," she said.

"It's going out into something that's completely foreign when you've never been in
that situation before, so it can be pretty scary."

The AES helps indigenous people overcome these obstacles and offers support after they
secure work.

Chief executive Danny Lester views corporate Australia, rather than government, as
the key to closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people.

"Government can only fund a program and they can't sustain that for a long period of
time," he said.

"But corporate Australia, or small businesses, can provide the continuing funding through
a real job and a pay packet."

Mr Lester said the AES wanted to break the "hideous welfare cycle" among indigenous Australians.

The AES has placed more than 1500 indigenous people in jobs in the last 12 months.

Mr Lester hopes the AES will place more than 1800 new indigenous people in work by June
2010.

AAP mj/pmu

KEYWORD: INDIGENOUS JOBS (PIX AVAILABLE)

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