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Groundbreaking Program Increasing Indigenous Army Recruits
10 minute read
2016 Army Indigenous Development Program Trainees at the Batchelor Institute Campus

The Army Indigenous Development Program (AIDP), being run at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, is significantly increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recruits entering the army.

AIDP is run in partnership between Batchelor Institute and the Australian Army, combining educational initiatives with the army’s induction training. The AIDP offers a safe middle-ground to trainees, allowing young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to learn and adjust to the demands of full time employment in the army before being sent to the Army Recruit Training Centre in Kapooka.

Recently 35 Indigenous trainees from the AIDP program were selected to enlist in the Australian Army, which brought the number of full-time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers to more than 500 for the first time since World War II. These 35 enlistees came from a group of 37, demonstrating the high success rate of the five-month program.

Major General Stephen Porter Commander 2nd Division visited the Batchelor Institute campus recently and spoke of the program’s benefits in offering new opportunities to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“This course makes the opportunity of joining the army available to people who may not have normally been successful in getting in,” said Major General Porter.

“What are the long term benefits? We’ve given them a challenge, so they have got to meet that challenge. It’s about giving them a vision where they can achieve and be successful, and at the end of the day get a job. And that is the important thing. You take people, good people, who maybe didn’t have this opportunity before and now, through this program, they can join the army and have a job. That’s the benefit, that whole pathway.”

Major General Stepher Porter also spoke on the importance of increasing Indigenous participation in Australia’s defence forces.

“The army should reflect its society and therefore we should have the same opportunities for Indigenous and other cultures to join the army as everyone else. We are a nation and the army should reflect the nation.”


Major General Stephen Porter Commander 2nd Division speaking with AIDP Trainees at Batchelor Institute

AIDP Senior Mentor Paul Garrioch explained that the course’s success in increasing Indigenous recruits can be in part attributed to Batchelor Institute’s cultural aptitude in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and its ‘Both-ways’ philosophy, where Indigenous values and knowledges are respected and valued within the learning process.

“We can run the training here in a culturally sensitive space, more easily than a lot of other places,” said Mr Garrioch.

He also spoke of the benefits of the partnership between Batchelor Institute and the Australian Army and how this unique and comprehensive support network assists trainees on a number of levels.

“I think what is really successful about it is the team that has been built around it. So you’ve got military staff, academic staff and mentoring staff,” said Mr Garrioch.

“All those support levels are working together for the same aim. I think that has been really effective here. The mentors are also a really key part of this program because they provide the cultural safety and those extra life skills. They get the students off campus, doing camping and other activities.”

Current AIDP trainee James West joined the course this year and has found it helpful in integrating the army’s training principles and education into his routine.

“I’ve always been interested in the army but I struggled a little bit with my Math and English. I thought this would be the best way to get into the routine and into the army life as well. I thought it would be hard but this is easing it in. It is very helpful,” said Mr West.

“Everyone is helping each other; we all work together. The mentors here are very good.”

The program is open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country. It aims to bring trainees up to a year 10 educational standard and also introduces elements of life in the army.

Since 2013 the program has experienced increasing enrolments, with most of the trainees going on to complete the course and enlist in the army. Due to this high level of success, the program is expected to expand in the coming years.