Indigenous opportunity from Ayers Rock Resort acquisition

Historic Indigenous employment and training opportunities will be created by the ILC's $300m purchase of Ayers Rock Resort.

The ILC will set up a training academy at the resort which will see 500 trainees graduate in tourism and hospitality over the next five years, with 200 training each year from 2013.

Graduates will be employed at the resort and in other tourism and hospitality jobs across Australia.

ILC Chairperson Shirley McPherson said the purchase is a turning point for Indigenous economic development in Central Australia and nationally.

"The resort represents a unique and probably the biggest opportunity to advance the training and employment of Indigenous people in the Australian tourism and hospitality industries.

"There is a great opportunity to increase the current limited Indigenous employment at the resort, which has a workforce of 670 people.

"By 2015, 200 Indigenous people will be employed at the resort and this will climb to 340, more than 50% of total employees, by the end of 2018," she said.

The ILC will establish a National Indigenous Tourism Training Academy in conjunction with local Indigenous business organisation Wana Ungkunytja (WU).

"The ILC Board is delighted that WU, which operates the Anangu Tours business, will acquire an interest in the resort and will be an integral partner in its running and development," Ms McPherson said.

"Traditional Owners already play a key role in the management of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and this has helped to protect and enhance the very things that visitors come to see."

The arrangement with WU means that Anangu will play a continuing role in operating and managing the resort. The purchase includes all hotels, tourist and staff accommodation and the airport, and will lead to the return of 104,000ha of culturally significant freehold land to Traditional Owners.

The National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, a Sydney-based Indigenous community and education complex built by the ILC, will work closely with the academy project to establish a campus at the resort.

"The provision of a memorable cultural and environmental tourism experience at Uluru and Kata-Tjuta will continue to be the primary focus, but the resort will increasingly provide badly-needed Indigenous jobs and industry-accredited training," Ms McPherson said.

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