MEDIA RING INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM BACKGROUNDER 22 AUGUST 2012

• The Review of Australian Government Investment in the Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Sector 2010 (the Review) was released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in early 2011. • The overriding conclusion of the Review was that Indigenous broadcasting and media is a powerful tool that needs to be more effectively harnessed to assist the Australian Government to realise its broad Indigenous affairs policy such as Closing the Gap.

The sector also provides essential services for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and has great potential to improve self esteem and well-being.

The Indigenous broadcasting sector needs to be resourced and empowered to take full advantage of future developments such as fast speed broadband and the converging multi- media world, including the development of an Indigenous free to air digital TV channel in partnership with SBS. • The Indigenous free to air digital TV channel recommended by the Review has been established in a partnership between SBS and National Indigenous Television (NITV). This new digital channel will go to air in January 2013. • The Review also suggested the Australian Government fund a single national peak body that represents the interests of metropolitan, regional and remote broadcasters and media sector stakeholders and that funding levels should be substantially higher than the current allocation to realise the facilitation role an adequately resourced and representative peak body can play. Screen Australia will be that single National Peak Body. • The Review noted that:

Discrimination, negative stereotypes and racism are acknowledged as contributing to economic and social disadvantage and resistance to participation in education and employment services. This resistance worsens the invisibleness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and increases the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in their participation within the economy and community.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander presenters, producers and journalists will give communities a voice and role models as well as give non-Indigenous Australians an alternative perspective on issues that will support reconciliation by providing a cultural bridge between communities.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences, the value of hearing local voices, seeing local faces is powerful but difficult to quantify. The benefits of these same voices and faces on mainstream media are even more powerful.

BACKGROUNDER – MEDIA RING INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

A well resourced and skilled Indigenous broadcasting and media sector has the potential to: o Engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the broader economy through greater access to information o Enhance self esteem, sense of identity, social inclusion and pride in communities o Provide positive role models to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people o Provide positive representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people o Provide training and employment opportunities and o Be a vehicle for maintenance and transmission of language and culture. • Media RING is an industry body encompassing broadcasters, government media agencies, Indigenous organisations, trade associations and guilds, media buyers and newspaper groups. Current members include:

ABC, Australian News Channel, Australian Writers’ Guild, Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA), Aurora Community Channel, , BBC Worldwide, Broadcast Australia, Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), Entertainment Personnel, Eora College, Fairfax Media, Film Victoria, , Gadigal Information Service Aboriginal Corporation, Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE), Metroscreen, Mitchel and Partners, Museum and Galleries NSW, News Limited, National Indigenous Television (NITV), National Film and Sound Archive (NSFA), Nine Entertainment, Northern Territory Film Office, Reconciliation Australia, Screen ACT, Screen Tasmania, Screen West, Screen Producers Association Australia, South Australian Film Corporation, The City of Sydney, Vibe Australia. • DEEWR has been working with Media RING and its members from the outset to develop a strategy to address a number of the recommendations of the Review. • The Indigenous Employment Program is funded by DEEWR in partnership with Media RING and Screen Australia. Forty new jobs for Indigenous Australians will be created over the two years of the Program. • The two-year Indigenous Employment Program is funded for $1.1 million administered by Screen Australia. It consists of: - DEEWR funding towards 40 new jobs for Indigenous people in the media - individualised training for the 40 applicants - funding for the preparation of a cultural training program for RING members - the employment of the IEP manager • The positions are predominantly entry level positions, with training and mentoring attached. The jobs will be in front of and behind the camera positions, including jobs such as presenters, producers, journalists and administrators. • The Indigenous Employment Program Manager, located at Screen Australia, will recruit and match candidates for the positions in consultation with media organisations. • The Indigenous Employment Program will create 30 non-remote Indigenous positions and 10 remote area positions. The Program subsidises employers for funding the position, administration and internal and/or external mentoring. The Program also provides funding for a personalised training program for each position. • Media RING sees the Indigenous Employment Program as the beginning of a long term strategy which includes informing young people about careers in the media, providing business training for producers and small media companies, structured mentoring programs and programs targeted at mid-level indigenous media workers.

Media RING IEP Backgrounder TC2_cg1.docx 2