Islanders set sail on maiden voyage in venture for new jobs

INDIGENOUS mariners Randall Rioli, Patrick Long and Sebastian Brogan prepare the Bandicoot for its first voyage as part of a new venture.

Randall Rioli, Sebastian Brogan and Patrick Long work the rope on the Bandicoot as Dean R

BENEATH the blaze of a freshly painted Aboriginal flag, indigenous mariners Randall Rioli, Patrick Long and Sebastian Brogan prepare their ship, The Bandicoot, for its first voyage as part of a new venture intended to help Tiwi Islanders find work in the oil and gas industry.

Today, Singapore based company Ezion, a US military contractor, will sign agreements with the Tiwi Land Council and the Northern Territory government to become the operator of a port it is building on the Tiwi Islands, north of Darwin.

The port will export woodchip from the Tiwi Islands forestry plantations, and, Ezion hopes, become a refuelling depot and services hub for the for the oil and gas industry. The company says it is in talks with the US military about storing equipment there, too.

The development has been a long time coming: the port was supposed to be finished in 2011. However, now the day the first load of cargo will pass across the dock is approaching, Ezion, in co-operation with Aboriginal Maritime — a company supported by indigenous ex-football stars Michael Long and Dean Rioli — has begun training indigenous employees.

“We like to think what we are doing is providing proper careers,” Ezion’s chief operating officer, Captain Larry Johnson, says. “We get people trained up when we’ve got jobs to give them.”

The company has done over $1 billion dollars worth of business in Australia since 2009, mainly on the Gorgon LNG project. Johnson says it has about 25 indigenous employees at present.

The Bandicoot, a $6 million vessel built by Ezion about four years ago, was sitting idle in a Singapore dock, after being passed over for use on the Gorgon project. Now, after changes to meet Australian standards, it is expected to begin supply runs and bunkering work between the Tiwi Islands and Darwin.

Chowing down a bowl of mince for lunch, Randall Rioli tells his fellow sailors he’s looking forward to his first voyage: “I won’t get seasick,” he assures them. Brogan says there’s a better future in the maritime industry than in commercial painting, the job he was doing before.

“One day I want to captain my own ship,” he says.

Dean Rioli says Aboriginal Maritime has trained about 45 workers so far, mostly people he has recommended from the indigenous populations of the Tiwi Islands and Darwin. He estimates 15 are now working.

“I’ve picked the cream of the crop early,” he says. “When we get dig a bit deeper into the barrel, into the hard basket, these guys will provide support and mentoring.”

Randall Rioli is Dean Rioli’s cousin. He lives in Victoria and commutes up for work. Patrick Long is Michael Long’s brother.

Johnson says Ezion began training workers early, with the expectation of creating about 40 stevedoring jobs at the Tiwi Islands port, the majority of the port’s indigenous workforce. He says the oil and gas industry needs to do more to match standards set by the mining industry in terms of indigenous employment.

He is coy about discussions with the United States. “You don’t negotiate with the US military,” he says. But then adds: “I was in with the US Marines Corps at the Pentagon last week. Now there are some US Navy guys here in town, talking to the Australian Defence Force.”

He says the US military is canvassing what services it might need in the region in the future.