By ERWIN CHLANDA
New race-based requirements in the NT Government’s tendering process cannot be justified, says Kay Eade (pictured), the CEO of the Alice Springs Chamber of Commerce.
“There seems to be a lot of inequity,” says.
“The government should practice what it preaches.”
She says the government is a long way off its own target of 16% of public servants being Indigenous.
“Businesses put people with the right skills where they are needed. You can’t run a business on the colour of the skin.”
Mr Eade says she doubts that there are enough Indigenous workers and trades people around to fill the needs.
It’s hard enough to find skilled people in Alice Springs, she says.
She is aware of a recent case where a Queensland firm underbid a local one, although the workers needed to be flown in and accommodated in commercial lodgings.
The Alice Springs News Online asked the Department of Business, which oversees the tendering rules, for a comment on April 1. None has been provided by the time of publication.