5 August 2003

As part of his trip to the Northern Territory, Prime Minister John Howard spoke with workers on the project and inspected tracklaying at Adelaide River.

Prime Minister Howard was able to view the tracklayer in operation at Adelaide River. Construction on the project is in its final stages with the two tracklaying machines currently operating approximately 100 km south of Darwin and 80 km north of Alice Springs.

Along with the construction progress being made by ADrail with expected completion of the project months ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Howard was also impressed by statistics for employment on the project.

"This is real jobs, real experience, real money, real opportunity, real motivation and that is what helping indigenous people ought to be about." Prime Minister Howard said.

At the peak employment period in September 2002, there were over 1400 people employed on the project, 916 from the Northern Territory and 147 from South Australia. Of those 1400 people 144 indigenous persons were employed by ADrail, with a further 70 indigenous persons employed by major subcontractors. This represents 15% of the workforce.

In addition to employment of indigenous persons, ADrail worked with the Territory Construction Association to identify, plan and implement training programs aimed at maximising labour from the local area and maximising indigenous employment and training programs that provide sustainable skills, economic participation and opportunities for people in each region.