ISEP Consultations and Discussion Paper Findings Report

The Australian Government announced in the 2021-22 Budget a commitment to develop a new Indigenous Skills and Employment Program (ISEP) to replace the Vocational Training and Employment Centres (VTEC), Tailored Assistance Employment Grants (TAEG) and Employment Parity Initiative (EPI) from 1 July 2022.

To inform the design of ISEP, NIAA worked with Inside policy to conduct 53 consultation sessions across Australia. Inside Policy was then asked to analyse the feedback that was received through the consultations and from public submissions to the ISEP discussion paper, which was open for public comment until 10 September 2021. This report combines all the information that was collected through both processes. Key findings from the report include:

• Wrap around supports are critical to addressing social barriers to employment
• Post-employment supports and mentoring should underpin retention and career pathways
• Service collaboration and coordination is critical – ‘one stop shops’ for employers and jobseekers
• Consultation with Indigenous jobseekers is needed to understand barriers, interests, aspirations and goals
• Training needs to be matched to job opportunities
• Need new and flexible approaches to funding providers
• Regional Economic Development Strategies and Networks– collaboration between communities, government and employers
• Local evaluations of outcomes is important – community involvement in determining success
• Need to create/understand employment pipelines
• Need to build cultural - capability of employers
• Capacity building for ACCOs is an important consideration

NIAA is using the key findings from this report in the design of ISEP.