"You've got to change the offender," Stirling said, because it was likely that "many of the factors that led them into trouble in the first place are probably still going to be existing in the communities to which they return."
"The best way to [change behavior] is to give them some skills that can translate across a number of industries," he said.
"Crocodile-handling skills, you might say, are not much good in the desert. But the other skills—the broad range of fencing and those sorts of skills—are transferable to other industries."
Farm owner Burns says he would be happy to employ any of the five people who are currently participating in the trial program.
"The benchmark for employment out here is a capacity to work within the rules that we have here, [such as] regularly turning up," Burns said. "And if they stick to all that, we're more than happy to employ them."
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