Aboriginal employment targets for WA

Aboriginal employment targets in the public sector have been announced for regional areas of Western Australia and are expected to create several hundred jobs.

The mandatory targets are regionally specific, depending on the Indigenous population of each area and are planned for the 2017-18 financial year.

Child protection minister Andrea Mitchell said the government consulted with WA's 274 remote Aboriginal communities about reforming services and education and economic opportunities were major themes.

Regional development minister Terry Redman said the public sector had a responsibility to create local opportunities for Aboriginal people, to move from welfare dependency to employment.

"Jobs and business opportunities are big drivers of family and community wellbeing," he said.

"Yet many Aboriginal people are not seeing these benefits because they are far less likely to be employed than non-Aboriginal people, especially in regional and remote areas."

The targets range from 4.5 per cent in the Wheatbelt to 38 per cent in the Kimberley where Aboriginal employees currently make up 18.5 per cent of the public sector.

The targets will be phased in as jobs become available, so current employees won't lose their jobs to immediately satisfy quotas, a spokeswoman told AAP.

The plan also requires government agencies to ensure contractors take on local Aboriginal staff when delivering regional contracts and to purchase more goods and services from Aboriginal-owned businesses in the regions.

It was also announced on Thursday that 600 hectares of government land had been leased to the Mamabulanjin Aboriginal Corporation to establish a native fruit orchid at no cost for the first few years.

The lease will be reviewed once the orchard becomes commercially viable.