Discussion Paper 259 / 2004

Material on the careers and aspirations of Indigenous young people is limited. This paper presents some such material from Torres Strait. In 1999, 105 Indigenous people aged between 15 and 24 years were interviewed about their aspirations. A proportion of these people were reinterviewed in 2003 and this paper presents the results. The principal issues covered include the perceptions of young people of commercial fishing as a career, the factors that helped or hindered people in achieving their aspirations between 1999 and 2003, and the extent to which they use opportunities on the mainland to further their aspirations.