THE 300 job seekers listed with RAPAD Employment Services Queensland (RESQ) based at Longreach were among those with a special interest in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's recent announcement of a stimulus package aimed at injecting funds into drought-stricken communities.
The service was formed in July 2013 when it won the contract to deliver the federal Remote Jobs and Community Program for the central west area.
Program manager Tony Rayner said RESQ had already been undertaking strategic fencing projects, albeit on a smaller scale than being discussed at present for grazing management and
pest control, including work at the Longreach Pastoral College alongside students.
As well, weed control teams in the Tambo, Longreach and Winton areas have been tackling serious infestations of mother of millions, prickly acacia, rubber vine, devil's rope and coral cactus.
"The work we've been doing dovetails very nicely with the Prime Minister's announcement," Mr Rayner said. "For the last 12 months we've been doing that exact work. I see the RFDS is keen to have private airstrips fenced off for safety - the sort of project we could do.
"We'd be very interested in placing job seekers as volunteers assisting landholders too. I don't want to pre-empt councils but I think these projects are as good as any."
The number of people on RESQ's books seeking work has doubled in the past 12 months.
Program guidelines have allowed people to work 20 hours a week, but from July 1 that will transition to a five-day-a-week plan.
The increased numbers signed up for the service are a symptom of ongoing drought, wild dog predation and the ripple effect of businesses putting people off, according to Mr Rayner, and the paddock training is making them more work-ready.
Some have found work in central highlands mines and employers have said they like the work ethos they come to the job with. "One of the benefits of having these people doing real work over an extended period is that their competency builds up," Mr Rayner said. "Even in tough times we've been able to secure them employment."
Supervisor Clinton Hall, who has managed property in the gulf and trained indigenous people at Woorabinda, said many RESQ work-for-the-dole participants had lost jobs through no fault of their own.
"As well as working on projects of national importance, the work we offer trains them and has a flow-on effect for people who've lost hope," he said.
"If we weren't there, they'd go round to the same places and get the same knock-backs.
"Now while they're working they're networking and finding contacts."
With a source of labour, RESQ has been able to tackle a number of invasive weed projects that have been defying control for some years.
There are some very major infestations of weeds of national significance that recur despite the best efforts of landholders and Landcare groups, but Mr Rayner says they are now seeing results, thanks to having teams able to keep going back to them.
"It's making a significant difference to a major economic issue while providing valuable technical training to job seekers," he said.
