The coalition has made a $45 million pledge to combat indigenous unemployment.
Speaking passionately about the inferiority of Aboriginal education, life expectancy and employment prospects, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said it's his "mission" to make a change should he become prime minister.
"If you want to make a difference quickly to the Aboriginal people of Australia, the one thing that can make a difference ... is having a fair dinkum job," Mr Abbott said during a visit to Fortescue Metals Group's Cloudbreak mine in the Western Australian Pilbara region on Saturday.
"That's the thing that more than anything else restores people's self respect. That's the thing that more than anything else enables them to live as a proud and free Australian."
Mr Abbott said the training will not aim to provide a certificate, but rather job-specific know-how leading to a guaranteed position for 5000 unemployed indigenous Australians.
"For too long we've had training for training sake. If nothing happens at the end of it you lose hope."
In 2012 Fortescue Metals employed 402 indigenous people, representing 10 per cent of its workforce, through its GenerationOne campaign, finding jobs for Aboriginal people.
The coalition funding will make indigenous workers job-ready for positions sourced by the campaign.
The jobs training promise is the latest in a string of coalition policy moves focused on lifting the quality of life for Aboriginal people, which includes shifting indigenous affairs into the department of prime minister and cabinet.
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has agreed to head a special prime ministerial advisory council on Aboriginal affairs under an Abbott government.
The former Labor party national president is keen to increase economic development in remote Aboriginal communities.
