Remote Area Work Scheme (RAWS)

RAWS Application Form

The Boys from the Bush Projects- Remote Area Work Scheme (RAWS) provides a unique opportunity for young Indigenous people living in remote communities wanting work in the meat processing industry (abattoirs).

We arrange the job and provide the essential after-work support and supervision to maximise work attendance and work performance. We provide rental accommodation, transport to and from home and work at cost, nutritional meals at cost, prohibition on drugs and alcohol, life skills development, financial management support, and engagement in constructive after work recreation, social and cultural activities.

Our mobile outreach recruitment service travels to remote areas to promote the merits of abattoir work to young people wanting a good job. All applicants are rigorously assessed for their suitability and prepared for this most important occasion while still in their home community.

Once the applicant is ready they are located in supported accommodation near their employment and mentored until they are living and working independently.

Abattoirs have proven to be the employer of choice for many rural and remote young Indigenous people. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, most young males from remote communities are accustomed to the processing of wild animals for food, along with the accompanying sensations (texture, sights, sounds and odours) involved in this sort of work. You can see this taking place in the following picture taken in the Torres Strait.

Today, like in traditional times, male prestige is still associated with bringing home meat. Abattoir work is not too different from this traditional activity.

Secondly, many families in northern communities have a historical connection to the pastoral (cattle) industry. This type of work is part-and-parcel of what their grandfathers and great-grandfathers were doing over the past 125 years before the time of welfare and CDEP. It’s a return to the ‘golden age’ when their families were the mainstay of the northern cattle industry. It’s this historical connection that gives context and relatedness.

Thirdly, abattoirs pay good weekly wages which give our young workers more immediate gratification and therefore motivation, as shows by the picture below of a proud young Moses Mulda from Titjikala showing off his first week’s wage.

Our society offers many rites of passage that signal a new status and help young people establish an identity. For many young people, their first “real” job is a rite-of-passage from play to work, from idleness to productive activity, from irresponsible childish behaviour to responsible mature behaviour, from boyhood to manhood. Fulltime work in an abattoir where they gain nationally recognised qualifications can signify this transition.

Today we have many second and third generation welfare dependent families where parents are often very young and many fathers, grandfathers and uncles have withdrawn from their traditional role and responsibility of providing economic support and helping young people to live good successful lives. All too often these men have been completely replaced by women, usually grandmothers or older aunties. It is these women who carry out the crucial roles of maintaining the household, nurturing the children and instructing young people. Many of these women are also welfare dependent and have never worked in the mainstream. All of this has resulted in many early school leavers growing up rejecting the work ethic and preferring a life of idleness supported by family members, unemployment benefits, or allowances received from the revolving door of pre-employment training program.

A more serious downside to this way-of-life can be low self-esteem, impaired social competence, social exclusion, drug and alcohol abuse, poor physical and psychological health, suicide, increase in criminal activity and other forms of antisocial behaviour. Our unique scheme offers a real and beneficial alternative. The picture below shows young 17 year old Greg Cox from Kalumburu at work amongst men and being instructed by an old hand and plant manager, Jim Noland.

RAWS is not required to provide any on-site supervision. The abattoirs are best left to their core business of managing the on-site behaviour of their employees and they do a very good job. This allows RAWS to concentrate on helping our young workers maintain their employment by providing essential off-site support and supervision. The off-site support not only maximises work attendance and focus but builds skills for independent living and long term stability in the workplace and community.

RAWS - Information pamphlet

RAWS - Privacy Policy

 Wanted - Supervisors & Homemakers

For further information or referral, please contact:
Milton James

Boys from the Bush Projects
0429 644 645
mjames@boysfromthebush.org.au