It is true that most of the young offenders causing havoc are Aboriginal but to blame an entire group of people is deeply unhelpful and utterly wrong.

It needs to be remembered that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are among the least advantaged people in our country despite years of Close the Gap initiatives.

That does not mean the Close the Gap initiatives are worthless - though many could be much better targetted - but it does mean we have been starting from an extremely wide gap and there is still much more to be done.

To that end, I applaud a new North West Health and Hospital Service initiative to expand its Indigenous workforce.

On Tuesday, the NWHHS will launch its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy in a bid to increase the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce from 10 to 26 per cent of the workforce in seven years.

If the number 26 seems a bit random, it isn't. It is the percentage of Indigenous people in the wider North West population, so the aim of the initiative is simply to make its workforce representative of our population.

Of course there are other benefits too, not least providing Indigenous people employment and skills that will be very useful in our 21^st century economy.

It also means that the standard of care for Indigenous patients should rise too.

However it won't be an easy task.

The six key focus areas of the strategy are "Recruitment, Retention, Workforce Profile, Leadership and Governance, Inclusive Workplaces and Community Engagement."

The National Employment Services Association is assisting the NWHHS to develop the strategy and internally a lot will fall on the shoulders of Christine Mann, the new director of Indigenous health.

Its her job to set strategic direction in North West Queensland for Indigenous health, which lags behind the general population on many metrics.

I look forward to the employment strategy as a crucial step on a long and difficult journey.