The Wire

New government figures show vacancies for skilled workers rose by 1.1 per cent in March. South Australia was the only Australian jurisdiction not to record a rise, after three months of consecutive falls. Meanwhile, Cape York Indigenous leader, Noel Pearson, is making headlines with a scheme that is flying unemployed Indigenous youngsters to work in parts of Australia experiencing a labour shortage. Mr Pearson is the Federal Government’s new welfare advisor – and his first project has been a three month fruit-picking trial. And Mr Pearson offers his own assessment of the Indigenous work-for-the-dole scheme, CDEP.