Jobs to be done as Twiggy's scheme gets the big guns on board
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When Australia's richest man has a party, everyone is invited - but no one goes home without being motivated within an inch of their lives.

So it was when the West Australian miner Andrew Forrest descended on Sydney yesterday to launch the most recent and ambitious chapter of his war on indigenous welfare dependency.

What began as an effort by Mr Forrest and his wife, Nicola, to get captains of industry to commit to employing 50,000 indigenous people has expanded into a campaign called Generation One. It aims to draw everyday Australians into the jobs and training initiative.

The man whom all but his nearest and dearest call Twiggy has signed up another billionaire, James Packer, to help fund the cause, as well as Kerry Stokes and his son Ryan, and Lindsay Fox and his son Andrew.

Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe attended the gala last night, where business, political and entertainment bigwigs hobnobbed and saw their palms projected onto the sails of the Opera House in a show of support.

The Premier, Kristina Keneally, was among them, promising to employ 2229 indigenous people in the public service.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, acknowledged the involvement of the former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull and his wife, Lucy - as well as the deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop.

''We began a couple of years ago by simply saying sorry but, you know something? Sorry isn't enough,'' Mr Rudd told the crowd at the Overseas Passenger Terminal.

Mr Packer has employed 60 indigenous workers and is looking for 50 more. Like many, he had always wanted to do more in the area and Mr Forrest had shown him how, he said earlier in the day.

''It's not about rich people can do more, or poor people should get off their backsides, or government should get out there … It's about all Australians,'' Mr Forrest said.

''People tell me, 'This is just another campaign.' I say show me the 20,000 [promised jobs so far] in any other campaign.''

A roadshow will travel the country to drum up support and there is even a We are the World-style song performed by the likes of Melinda Schneider, Jack Thompson, Ernie Dingo and Christine Anu. A former young Australian of the year, Tania Major, called Generation One a ''holistic nation movement'' and said she became involved because it was ''not just another talkfest''.

Mr Forrest told the story of Ian Black, an Aborigine who mentored him at boarding school as a boy and whose funeral he recently attended. The statistic that says only 25 per cent of indigenous men will live beyond 65 was ''Ian's statistic'', he said, and was unacceptable.

People are being asked to register through the Generation One website to become involved in the project.

http://www.generationone.org.au