Indigenous police graduates break down colour barriers

Taylah Quigly knows full well the troubled relationship between police and many indigenous ­people.

Graduation of 13 Indigenous students from Sydney TAFE's Indigenous Police Recruitment Our Way Delivery (IPROWD) initiative (to support an increase in the number of Indigenous Police. L to R..Annabella Tavares, Taylah Quigley, James Riordan, Tanisha Anderson and Sam Hann were some of today's graduates.

Taylah Quigly, a 19-year-old ­Wiradjuri woman living in the southeastern Sydney suburb of Matraville, knows full well the troubled relationship between police and many indigenous ­people.

But, with a new qualification under her belt, she’s on her way to being part of the solution.

Ms Quigly, originally from Dubbo, graduated yesterday with 12 other indigenous students from a course designed to pave their way into the police force. She hopes to start at the Goulburn police academy in January.

She said the statewide TAFE program, now in its fifth year, ­offered a chance to change often fraught relations. “We all want to go in there and try to encourage Aboriginal ­people that are disadvantaged, and to show them that they can do something,” she said.

“We’ve all come from the same sort of background and we call all push forward and achieve something.”

Ms Quigly, the first in her family to complete high school, was given a police award for commitment to the program.

“(The program) brings young people together from all parts of the state,” NSW Skills Minister John Barilaro said. “It gives them the opportunity to build the skills, confidence, and the pathway into a career that will be both fulfilling for themselves and fulfils our needs to close the gap for indigenous youth in education and employment.”

Annabella Tavares, one of 14  siblings, said: “One of the biggest problems is the way indigenous people think of police and the program really helps us to start changing that.”

Ms Tavares had a long daily commute between Liverpool in Sydney’s southwest and TAFE’s Eora college campus in Redfern in inner Sydney. “I definitely think the early hours and rigorous exercise was a big challenge for me, but it was worth it,” she said. “I was able to get to know the local community and will hopefully start out at Redfern police. Eventually, I really want to go out to rural communities and help wherever I can.”

Sydney TAFE director David Riordan said many of the ­students had given up university opportunities to do the course.

“They’re proud Aboriginal people that have made a huge success of this program,’’ he said.