It's time for industry to show some

That turnout also means that Townsville now holds the record for the a largest Reconciliation March held so far anywhere in regional Australia.

The second example of NAIDOC leaving something stronger and worthwhile on the ground in the community is the 24 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander waiters who are achieving their certificates today.

They are, I believe, the first group of young people to be trained specifically for a role at the National NAIDOC awards.

They did it so well at the Awards night ball, that I am going to be recommending to the ATSIC's NAIDOC Week Committee that this become a permanent feature of all future NAIDOC Week Awards nights.

We have a wonderful success story here today. We have two groups of our young people who are now far more ready for jobs or further training opportunities in the local hospitality industry, as result of their course at this TAFE.

Many of them now have excellent references as well as excellent training behind them, and some experience – as a result of their efforts on the night of the ball.

But I want to say a bit more about this – about jobs for our people. I want to take this opportunity to again call for local employers in the hospitality industry to come forward with job and training opportunities for these young people here today.

We are hearing a lot from government and many employers and others about "mutual obligation".

Most of that is directed at unemployed people.

Well what we have in Townsville is a situation where we need to see some "mutual obligation" – from employers and their peak groups – like the local Chamber of Business and Commerce, too. It is time that these groups started to pull their weight a bit more.

We have a group of young people who have fulfilled their "obligation" by getting training, getting experience, getting themselves "ready" for the job market. They have done the right thing.

The government, through TAFE has done the right thing , by contributing the cost of training. But I understand that none of these 24 young people have got any jobs out of it.