Growing up in regional Queensland, Topaz McAuliffe recalls feeling lucky. “Being a Torres Strait Islander – grandfather from Moa Island and grandmother from Yorke Island – and growing up in Cairns, we were always told that we needed to get a job,” she recalls.
After starting a career at St.George Bank, working in lending, finance and insurance, she volunteered for a project to address local unemployment. “That opened my eyes as to why there were high rates of First Nations people out of work in places like Cairns and Shepparton,” she explains. I spent 12 months understanding what the barriers were. There were a lot of jobs and a lot of people looking for work, but the system just wasn't delivering. It was broken.”
A pilot work program was started, and Coles offered her a job. She spent
