Traffic management company forges a new road for Aboriginal careers in regional WA

A new Aboriginal-owned traffic management company wants to provide career opportunities for potentially hundreds of Aboriginal people in regional Western Australia.

IQ Traffic launched this week to provide innovative, safe and tailored traffic management services to clients in the Mid West, the South West and the Goldfields.

The new traffic start-up will provide an important vehicle for Aboriginal employment in the regions. IQ Traffic will offer Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people unprecedented training and career opportunities in the traffic management industry.
The company is the result of a partnership between WA Aboriginal consultancy company IPS and traffic management company Quality Traffic Management.

“There is a real need for more Aboriginal businesses in WA, and for those businesses to provide greater career and training opportunities,” IQ Traffic Managing Director Katina Law said.

“Particularly in the regions, we want to see opportunities in a culturally safe work environment.”

IQ Traffic has adopted a four pillar approach to providing opportunities, according to Ms Law, through Aboriginal ownership, employment, supplier engagement and career pathways.

The company is actively engaging with State and Local Government agencies and corporate clients to unearth and drive opportunities.

“There is a social return on investment – for every dollar paid to an Aboriginal business, more than $4 of economic and social value is created,” Ms Law said.

 “If you speak to any successful person or business, you are likely to find that somewhere along the way, someone took a chance on them, removed a barrier, took a leap of faith. IQ Traffic will be taking conscious steps to provide opportunities, which will then have a flow on effect in families, businesses and communities.

 “Our aim is to be the biggest regionally-based traffic business in WA.”

IQ Traffic will provide clients with the opportunity to meet their supplier diversity requirements, a key plank of the WA Government’s new Aboriginal Procurement Policy.

IQ Traffic will officially launch at the Aboriginal Business Expo at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Thursday March 29. The Expo is a tradeshow hosted by the Department of Finance, aiming to build relationships between the Aboriginal Business Sector and government buyers, ahead of the launch of WA’s APP on July 1.