What gaps need closing in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander training provision?

Recently, the Prime Minister gave the annual Closing the Gap speech to parliament. The accompanying report (Turnbull, 2016) was a mix of optimism and despair as a few gaps closed and more widened. One that remained stubbornly open was the gap in employment. At one point, in relation to remote communities, the report notes: ‘The difficulties in accessing training and the absence of strong labour markets make it difficult to secure continuous, paid employment’. Over the past four years, we have been working on projects with the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation, managed by Ninti One Limited. We have written widely on issues related to training delivery in remote communities and have come to some conclusions that challenge the assumptions of statements like the one given in the Closing The Gap report. The ‘pathway’ which is often portrayed as a linear, sequential and logical process to achieve status and income ... depends on congruent philosophical standpoints.