Business
21 September, 2024
Inspiring role models
TWO young and up-and-coming team members at Sea Swift epitomise the shipping company’s drive to employ more First Nations and female staff.
Danielle Atu, 23, and Rhys O’Sullivan, 20, are relatively new at the logistics business but are the faces of a new ‘local jobs, local people’ campaign to tap into local knowledge of the region and champion diversity by encouraging women and First Nations people from Northern Australia and the Torres Strait to apply.
The two attracted the attention and impressed marine manager Jesse Lee.
Ms Atu, of Redlynch, is currently a marine deckhand and will start training next year for an internationally-accredited integrated rating.
She was selected from 20 applicants. Mr Lee said, while Ms Atu didn’t have marine qualifications, she had a strong background in machinery and stood out from the other applicants.
She has been at Sea Swift since early June and has mainly worked on the Newcastle Bay delivering fuel in the Northern Territory.
Mr O’Sullivan was on a tour of Sea Swift as part of Vocational Pathways Group.
“He was noticeably keen. He carried a clipboard and asked the right questions. He wasn’t just here for the walk around. I called him in for an interview,” Mr Lee said.
Mr O’Sullivan, of Manoora, has been at the business for five weeks and works as a general practice hand.
Ms Atu said she joined Sea Swift to “try something different” after being in civic construction. She said she enjoyed “being out at sea and the fishing” and working in what had been a male-dominated industry, as well as learning.
“Everyone is keen to pass on their knowledge,” Ms Atu said.
Mr O’Sullivan said he was currently working in point of sales in the depot and learning how to drive a forklift.
He said Sea Swift was “a very laidback environment”.
“You get the work done very easily, it’s rather efficient and it’s OK to make mistakes and I am very hard on myself when I make a mistake,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
He starts a coxswain course through TAFE later this month and he said he was keen to move up the ranks at Sea Swift.
Sea Swift is aiming to boost its First Nations employee ratio from 15 per cent to 25 per cent by the end of the 2024-2025 financial year.
Sea Swift currently employs more than 520 staff and has been delivering freight to some of the most remote parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory for more than 35 years.
A key focus of the “Local Jobs, Local People” program is to tap into local knowledge of the region and champion diversity by encouraging women and First Nations people from Northern Australia and the Torres Strait to apply. The increase may not result in an increase in overall staff numbers, as the current statistics include casual employees who may be made permanent.
Sea Swift is also encouraging women to apply for all positions in a male-dominated workforce. Roles are from marine to shoreside.
Sea Swift executive chairman Chris Pearce said in a region where options for training and career development were often limited, Sea Swift was “excited about the opportunity to engage with communities and welcome more local people to our team”.
“Our company operates 365 days a year to deliver essential goods for our communities and we recognise the knowledge of local First Nations people in delivering safely and efficiently, despite challenging conditions in which we operate,” he said.
Sea Swift has two intakes per year for trainees to align with TAFE and university courses. As they build their qualifications, trainees can work towards a career as a coxswain, engineer, master or integrated rating, while gaining hands-on experience both on vessels at sea and onshore within the depot. Sea Swift currently has 17 trainees in the business who are at various stages of their training.
Applications are being accepted through Seek or the Sea Swift HR department. The email addresses to contact are careers@seaswift.com.au or hr@seaswift.com.au
