Australia’s transition to net zero is not only an engineering and finance challenge. It is a nation-building project that will reshape the labour market, redraw regional economies and redefine what it means to build and share knowledge in the Country. The Australian Government has made it clear that the clean energy shift must be accompanied by a strong skills agenda and a deliberate commitment to increase First Nations participation in the decarbonisation workforce. That workforce includes the technicians wiring utility-scale solar and wind, the tradespeople retrofitting homes for energy efficiency, the analysts designing grid integration, and the land and sea managers restoring biodiversity and stewarding carbon projects. If we get this right, the decarbonisation boom can become a vehicle for economic self-determination, intergenerational prosperity and cultural strength. If we get it wrong, it risks reproducing familiar patterns of exclusion in a new green wrapping.
In 2024–30, national policy settings have converged around clean energy and skills. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations commissioned Ninti One to examine the opportunities and barriers First Nations peoples face in accessing training, education and jobs across decarbonising sectors, and to identify practical measures that make learning and workplaces culturally safe. That work, built on more than a hundred consultations and detailed case studies, has informed a suite of resources for employers, RTOs, trainers, learners and policy makers. For the VET and higher education sectors, these resources are a roadmap for action right now, not a distant aspiration. They show—with specificity—how to design programs, partnerships and support systems that translate good intent into outcomes.
Why this matters to providers now
The scale and speed of the net-zero build-out are accelerating. States and territories are setting renewable targets, running transmission and renewable zone tenders, and funding energy efficiency upgrades. Universities are expanding clean energy research and micro-credentials; TAFEs and private RTOs are standing up short courses and apprenticeships tied to new job families. Labour demand is broad and growing, from entry-level field roles to advanced engineering. Yet without deliberate structures that value First Nations knowledge, centre cultural safety and reduce entry barriers, the learners who most stand to gain can be the last to benefit.
Ninti’s programmatic guidance places cultural safety at the core of training delivery and organisational governance. It is not a branding exercise or a one-off workshop; it is a system condition you can see in timetables, supervision models, admissions settings, assessment design, and the way partnerships are governed and resourced. Providers that treat cultural safety as “additional” work or outsource it entirely to a single staff member inevitably see uneven participation and fragile retention. Providers that embed it—funded, measured and led from the executive through to classrooms and worksites—see stronger enrolments, better completion rates and more resilient employment outcomes.
From principle to practice: what culturally safe training looks like
The resources emphasise that cultural safety is created through both enabling structures and everyday habits. In practice, this means delivery models that recognise Sorry Business and community obligations without requiring learners to continually disclose private details; teaching that blends yarning, storytelling and hands-on practice with technical content; and learning environments—on campus, online and on Country—that reflect local identity and protocol. Importantly, it means visible cultural leadership across roles, not just in advisory capacities. Learners need to see themselves in trainers, supervisors and decision-makers to trust the system that serves them.
For universities, many of these attributes translate directly into research training, work-integrated learning and field schools. Supervisors should be equipped and accountable to lead with relational responsibility, not only task oversight. School and faculty boards should apply a cultural safety “impact lens” to decisions about course sequencing, placement policies and assessment. In both VET and higher education, learners thrive when cultural obligations are anticipated in scheduling, when staff have the capability and authority to adapt, and when feedback loops are clear and acted upon.
Designing inclusive entry pathways
Entry is not just an administrative hurdle; it is a moment that signals belonging. The guidance calls on RTOs and universities to design multiple pathways into qualifications and jobs: community-based enrolment, bridging programs, recognition of prior learning, and direct outreach delivered with trusted local partners. Plain-English information, verbal and relationship-based options alongside online forms, and early connection to First Nations staff and Elders can dramatically reduce early attrition. Where prerequisites are genuinely necessary, they should be explained with clarity and accompanied by scaffolded supports; where they are legacy barriers, they should be removed. These are simple design choices with outsized impacts on participation.
For academic and professional staff recruitment, the same logic applies. Providers should advertise through First Nations networks, enable conversations before formal applications, recognise community leadership and lived experience as strengths, and ensure at least one First Nations decision-maker is genuinely shaping selection and role design. Background checks must be conducted with an awareness of systemic bias, and onboarding must make explicit what cultural load a new staff member is not expected to carry.
Wraparound supports that actually wrap around.
Too often, “student support” is the downstream response to a design problem upstream. Culturally safe wraparound support starts before enrolment and continues through graduation and employment. It is coordinated, not siloed; visible, not hidden behind an intranet tile; and built on trust with Elders, local ACCOs and cultural mentors who are resourced to be part of the care network. Wellbeing checks are scheduled as part of delivery, not reserved for crisis. Timetables and leave policies acknowledge cultural obligations without stigma. Practical supports—transport, devices, tools, PPE—are proactively provided, particularly in remote or digitally-constrained locations. Supervisors are taught to recognise disengagement signals and respond with follow-up, not punitive attendance rules. This is basic quality practice reframed through a First Nations lens, and it pays back in retention, completion and graduate confidence.
Progression, not just retention
Retaining a learner or staff member is not the end game. The aim is progression into skilled employment, further study, leadership and sector influence. Providers should map vertical and lateral qualification pathways and make them visible early, combine applied learning with real projects and placements, and track learner journeys after completion to understand whether systems are creating meaningful outcomes. For staff, professional development should include qualifications, governance opportunities, secondments and conferences, with promotion pathways into roles that shape practice and policy—not only roles narrowly labelled “community” or “engagement”. Success needs to be defined with First Nations people at the table, recognising multiple forms of contribution and leadership.
Partnerships that share power
In the decarbonisation economy, partnerships are the engine of relevance. The resources set out a practical four-phase model—prepare, initiate, build, maintain—that centres cultural authority, reciprocity and long-term commitment. For example, a conservation and ecosystem management program that codesigns modules with Traditional Owners and ranger groups, delivers on-Country learning, and funds local ACCOs to provide mentoring will produce graduates with stronger technical skills and deeper place-based capability than a classroom-only equivalent. In metropolitan contexts, First Nations-led early childhood services can host placements and co-teach culturally responsive practice for energy-efficient facilities retrofits and sustainability programs, lifting both workforce quality and community trust. The common thread is that partnership terms, resources and governance are shared and sustained beyond a single cohort.
Governance and accountability: make it count
The most sophisticated strategy will stall without executive accountability and a budget. The guidance is explicit: cultural safety goals belong in strategic and operational plans, risk and quality frameworks and board reporting cycles. Decisions about training products, staffing, delivery models and community engagement should undergo cultural safety impact analysis alongside financial and operational risk review. Organisations should establish governance groups with First Nations leadership, track indicators such as employment by level and location, progression and tenure, procurement with First Nations businesses and staff experience, and then publish what is learned. Transparency is not a performative gesture; it is how we build trust and improve.
Universities and dual-sector providers can align these mechanisms with Reconciliation Action Plans, Indigenous procurement policies and research integrity frameworks, ensuring that the same expectations apply in classrooms, laboratories, workshops and field sites. Continuous improvement here looks like adjusting course sequencing after listening to learners, re-timing intensive blocks to avoid cultural clashes, funding additional mentor hours during peak placement periods, and redesigning selection rubrics that inadvertently penalise non-Western communication styles.
What this means for the net-zero skills agenda
The decarbonisation workforce is not a single pipeline; it is a set of braided pathways that cross VET and higher education, classroom and Country, project and profession. When providers apply the practices above, three things happen that matter directly to Australia’s clean energy goals.
First, the size of the talent pool grows. Culturally safe entry pathways and teaching make it more likely that First Nations learners will enrol, persist and complete in job-critical qualifications—from electrotechnology and civil construction to environmental monitoring and GIS. Second, capability deepens. On-Country learning and co-delivery with Traditional Owners strengthen the mix of technical and cultural knowledge that clean energy projects increasingly require, from biodiversity offsets and cultural heritage management to community engagement on transmission alignments. Third, trust increases. Projects are more likely to advance with consent and durable local support when the people building them are locally trained, culturally guided and employed under fair conditions.
Practical next steps for providers
Providers do not need to wait for new funding rounds or a perfect policy moment. Start by naming executive accountability for cultural safety and allocating a modest but recurring budget line for it. Map where First Nations learners and staff enter your organisation and where they fall away; then redesign the pressure points you can control this semester. Establish, or renew, a partnership table with local Elders and ACCOs that has real decision-making influence over course design, placement quality and support systems. Equip supervisors—academic and vocational—with concrete tools for relational leadership and flexible scheduling. Publish a short, plain-English statement that sets out how learners can access cultural support from first contact through to graduation, and how feedback will be used. These are achievable actions that signal seriousness and build momentum.
A shared responsibility across sectors
The VET sector’s strengths—applied learning, industry alignment and regional reach—make it a natural backbone for the decarbonisation skills task. Higher education contributes research depth, advanced analytics and professional pathways. Neither can deliver an inclusive transition alone. When universities, TAFEs, private RTOs, Jobs and Skills Councils, employers and community-controlled organisations sit at the same table, align incentives and share authority, learners stop falling through the gaps between systems.
Australia’s net-zero transition should not be a race run on someone else’s terms. It can be a careful, courageous walk together: training that respects Country; workplaces where First Nations people are safe to succeed and supported to lead; and projects built with cultural integrity as a non-negotiable dimension of quality. That is how we build a decarbonisation workforce that is technically excellent, locally grounded and worthy of public trust.
For providers looking to act, the Ninti One resources offer practical detail—step-by-step advice on culturally safe governance, teaching and support, examples of co-delivery models, and a clear emphasis on progression and partnership. They are designed to be picked up and used in real classrooms, real workshops and real boardrooms. The clean energy transition is here. So are the tools to make it inclusive. Let’s put them to work.
