New Tiwi Islands workforce plan sets benchmark for community-led work
The Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board has developed and launched the Tiwi Islands Community Workforce Plan (CWP), the first of 13 community workforce plans to be created for remote Northern Territory communities.
The project aligned with the Department of Trade, Business and Asian Relation's remote community workforce planning tool, and made meaningful use of labour market insights from the 2023 Remote Town Job Profiles, translating data into locally relevant action.
The plan is designed to facilitate strong links between Tiwi people and real opportunities for paid work in local labour markets. It identifies short, medium and long-term opportunities to create strong and lasting employment opportunities for Tiwi people.
These efforts aim to support Tiwi people to find meaningful work that respects and reflects their identity.
What sets the Tiwi Islands CWP apart is its genuine community ownership.
The plan was led, designed and written by Tiwi people for Tiwi people, reflecting local job aspirations, workforce challenges and ideas for strengthening the Tiwi economy.
It received strong endorsement from the Tiwi Land Council and all 8 Tiwi clan groups.
The project also demonstrated a stronger, community-led engagement model, achieving double the number of business survey responses compared with the Remote Town Job Profiles.
Importantly, the plan is already being put into action. Tiwi Islands Training and Employment Board (TITEB) is using the implementation plan to present clear local career pathways to Tiwi high school students in early 2026, with the National Indigenous Australians Agency also expressing interest in supporting the initiative.
The Tiwi Islands Community Workforce Plan sets a new benchmark for remote workforce planning, showing that when communities lead the work, the outcomes are more relevant, practical and more likely to deliver lasting impact.
Maria Harvey, CEO, TITEB, said, 'We are very excited to have a Tiwi‑lensed, dedicated platform (the Tiwi Community Workforce Plan 25–27) to guide, live out and record social and economic activity for the Tiwi communities into the 2020s and beyond.'
'The finished CWP sets the building blocks and is a practical road map for truly collaborative progress that allows Tiwi people to create their own bright futures.'
The Northern Territory Government is developing a whole-of-Territory approach to workforce development to understand the demands and challenges faced by businesses and workers. This work will align with community-led or business-led plans.
The Department of Trade, Business and Asian Relations is available to support all regional organisations with community workforce planning projects. For more information, go to the Business Territory website.
Download the Tiwi Islands Community Workforce Plan from the TITEB website.
