Education and training

Origin nominee up for Indigenous Trainee of the Year awards

Tegan Kearns (Roma Stores) was short-listed for the Indigenous Trainee of the Year awards after her nomination by Origin. The awards are part of the 2010 Queensland Training Awards.

Tegan completed the two year Certificate II in Warehousing and Logistics in 8 months and has now been offered a full time position with Origin in Warehousing and Logistics.

Shortlisted candidates underwent a phone interview in April 2010, and finalists were announced at a regional presentation ceremony in August 2010.

Indigenous school-based traineeships

As part of the joint industry Indigenous School based Traineeship programme Origin has offered two traineeships in 2010 to Indigenous students in our areas of operation. Pesch Dodd from St John School in Roma will be undertaking a traineeship in Business and Jordon Dennis, Roma State High School will be undertaking his traineeship in Warehousing and Logistics courses.

Origin, in conjunction with four other energy companies, introduced the Indigenous school-based traineeship program in 2009. As part of the pilot programme the two-year traineeships were offered to 16 students from Roma, Miles, Chinchilla, Dalby and Tara who are currently undertaking Year 10 and 11 studies.

The students attended field visits to our Spring Gully and Talinga sites and also to QGC’s Berwendale site in March and April. The selection process was undertaken at a two-day camp in April at the Columboola Environmental Centre where the students participated in a range of activities included an interview process.

Tegan Kearns, our Indigenous Trainee of the Year awards nominee, spoke to the students during the camp about her experience with Origin and the traineeship she has just completed.

Due to the high quality of applications received this year, Origin is also looking to make offers to an additional 3 additional participants for positions outside of this programme – as are several of the other proponents. In total 21 applications were received with a total of 19 offers being made.

Pre-vocational training:

Together with Arrow, QGC and Santos and the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE we are providing Year 11 and 12 students with the chance to undertake pre-vocational training in process plant operations. The training provides recognition towards a Diploma in Process Plant Operations and a pathway to involvement in the gas industry.

University placements:

Origin has funded four university placements for indigenous people. The placements formed part of our land access agreement negotiations.

Cultural Heritage Induction Training

As part of ongoing training and awareness, Origin has rolled out a Cultural Heritage induction training programme.

The purpose of this induction is to provide people in a position to make a cultural heritage find, with the knowledge of how to identify a cultural heritage item; what steps to take to protect it; and who to inform when such an item has been identified.

• The definition of Cultural Heritage.
• State Government Legislation pertaining to Cultural Heritage.
• Responsible vs Irresponsible practices.
• Origin’s position on Cultural Heritage.
• What to do when Cultural Heritage is found.