00:00 I like doing more.
00:13 Lindsay May has been painting and selling landscapes for more than 30 years.
00:19 Now he's trying to pass on decades of knowledge.
00:23 They've got to learn. If I pass away, what do I do with it? They keep on doing that.
00:30 He lives and works in Yalata, an Anangu community near the Great Australian Bight.
00:41 As with many other remote communities, unemployment has long been one of Yalata's biggest issues.
00:50 When I get up in the morning, when the people go off bus, I just want to ask some young
00:55 fellas, "Come, you want to work?" But they don't want to come for work.
01:01 But locals are starting to have some success cutting into that long-running problem.
01:08 Inside this shed, workers are packaging wood. They've harvested dead trees from Yalata land
01:15 to sell as firewood.
01:18 We work because we do something in this community.
01:24 Just next door is another community-led initiative creating jobs for Yalata locals.
01:29 23-year-old Joanne Baker started in the grocery store about three weeks ago.
01:34 I like doing work for myself and taking in things.
01:45 Many people here in Yalata view employment as key to improving the lives of younger generations.
01:50 But projects such as these are not without their challenges.
01:54 Not everyone regularly turns up to work, and locals say Yalata is still impacted by drug
02:00 and alcohol misuse.
02:02 The times are tough everywhere, not just in Aboriginal communities, it's tough getting
02:06 a job anywhere. But we think that we can make a difference and grow this community to stand
02:12 on its own.
02:14 For many locals, it's a source of pride that, through their own initiatives, they've managed
02:18 to make positive changes, growing the number of jobs in Yalata from 19 to 66 in just three
02:25 years.
02:27 The value of self-determination has been a key theme of the YES campaign, which hopes
02:32 a voice to parliament would ensure decision-makers take note of what can be achieved when change
02:37 is driven from within.
02:40 We put a story to the government, Canberra, to help us, you know, help people.
02:47 But ahead of the referendum, most locals are reluctant to talk about it. They'd rather
02:53 focus on issues much closer to home, like getting more young people into work.
02:58 We'd like to do something in this community. We want to keep this community strong.
03:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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