Community engagement
Consultation with key stakeholders was undertaken prior to project commencement.
Following on from several community presentations in Halls Creek, Main Roads along with the Shire of Halls Creek visited the three communities of Billiluna, Balgo and Mulan in June 2022 to discuss the project and provide information on business and employment opportunities.
Initial briefings were provided with the three native title groups directly affected by the road – Jaru, Koongie-Elvire and Tjurubalan, who all indicated their support for the project. Main Roads continues to meet with the Traditional owner groups as required
A Delivery Strategy workshop was held with a range of community stakeholders in Halls Creek in November 2023. The group supported a long- term delivery strategy over 8 - 10 years to maximise local involvement in the delivery of the project and provide sustainable employment and business opportunities for local Aboriginal people. The Community reference group also provided advice on what were considered to be key project objectives and outcomes, as well as what should be included in the scope of works to achieve these objectives. A set of Key Performance Indicators will be developed and further meetings are planned with the Community Reference Group during the life of the project to report on project progress in achieving the project objectives.
Aboriginal Participation
Project Aboriginal Participation targets have been set in line with other projects being delivered in the Kimberley region.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been entered into with the Jaru Aboriginal Corporation defining how Main Roads will work with the Jaru People to grow local Aboriginal participation in the delivery of the project.
Several training courses have been held to build people’s skills and allow them to participate in the delivery of the project, while a number of new businesses have started up, providing services on the project.
Around 50 local Kimberley Aboriginal people are working on the project in 2025, with 45 per cent of the hours worked on the project to June 2025 by Aboriginal people, of which 92% are from the East Kimberley.
There are also 18 Aboriginal Businesses working on the project in 2025 (12 of which are from Halls Creek and 3 from Kununurra), including 4 new start-up businesses, with $34 million in payments (34% of total payments) to June 2025.
This year, the amount of work being delivered by Aboriginal owned businesses has grown to 42 per cent of work delivered with the three-year total steady at 32%.
Training opportunities for workers from remote Kimberley communities continue to be provided with four workers out of Balgo and Billiluna.
