Council of Australian Governments
Community Development Employment Projects
In December 2008, the Australian Government announced reforms to the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program as part of a new integrated approach to employment services for Indigenous Australians. The reforms will see CDEP and the Indigenous Employment Program (IEP) working in partnership with employment services to provide greater support to Indigenous Australians in finding sustainable employment.
From 1 July 2009 CDEP will no longer operate in non-remote locations where the economy is well established. Instead, services for Indigenous job seekers will be provided by the new employment services and IEP. A new Community Support Program will also be introduced to assist Indigenous Australians in those locations to access a range of services.
CDEP reform has been incorporated into the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Economic Participation (NP), which contributes to the Closing the Gap targets agreed in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement. Element 1 of the NP is: Creating real sustainable employment in areas of Government service delivery that have previously relied on subsidisation through CDEP.
Through the NP, the Commonwealth States and Territories have agreed:
- To create about 2000 sustainable jobs from appropriate CDEP activities supporting the delivery of Government services, with jobs to be in place by 1 July 2009;
- 1280 jobs supporting Federal Government service delivery; and
- 720 in State, Territory and Local Government services
o Western Australia 338
o Queensland 274
o South Australia 72
o New South Wales 36
Further information on the CDEP reforms can be found here and here.
Indigenous reform agenda
In December 2007 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a new reform agenda across a broad range of issues, including Indigenous reform.
COAG has agreed to six Closing the Gap targets as the focal point for its Indigenous reform agenda. These targets are:
- To close the gap in life expectancy within a generation;
- To halve the gap in mortality rates for Indigenous children under five within a decade;
- To halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade;
- To at least halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 attainment or equivalent attainment rates by 2020;
- To halve the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians within a decade; and
- To ensure all four-year-olds, including those in remote communities, have access to early childhood education, within five years.
Key vehicles for the COAG Indigenous reforms include Indigenous specific national partnership agreements and other national partnership agreements with Indigenous components; reform in Specific Purpose Payments; a new intergovernmental agreement to underpin the financial arrangements between the Commonwealth and the State; and development of a national framework for reporting expenditures on Indigenous services. Further information on the COAG Indigenous reforms
DIA’s role is to provide input to, and coordinate, the development and implementation of COAG Indigenous reforms in Western Australia. In particular, DIA is leading the implementation of the Remote Service Delivery National Partnership reforms to partner with Indigenous communities in delivering services appropriate to their expressed needs. DIA is also leading the Indigenous Economic Participation National Partnership reforms to significantly improve opportunities for Indigenous people to engage in real and sustainable employment.
Key elements of the Remote Service Delivery National Partnership are:
- Baseline mapping of social and economic indicators, services, and community decision-making processes;
- Funding and support for building community governance capacity;
- Establishment of integrated planning and service delivery mechanisms in identified locations'
- Establishment of a single government interface in identified locations providing for interaction between communities and all government agencies at all stages of the service planning and delivery cycle;
- Development of local implementation plans containing service delivery priorities agreed between Government and local communities (including non-government and private sector organisations where relevant) consistent with the COAG target;
- Support for land tenure;
- Translation and interpreting services; and
- Cultural competency training.
The Remote Service Delivery National Partnership will be implemented in towns and communities around Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and on the Dampier Peninsula, including the communities of Ardyaloon and Beagle Bay.
The Indigenous Economic Participation National Partnership provides for:
- Creating real sustainable employment in areas of government service delivery that have previously relied on subsidisation through the Community Development Employment Projects program;
- Strengthening current government procurement policies to maximise Indigenous employment;
- Incorporating Indigenous workforce strategies into all new major COAG reforms; and
- Increasing Indigenous employment in the Public Sector to reflect the national Indigenous working age population share by 2015.
Bilateral implementation plans will provide the framework for the Commonwealth and Western Australia to effectively implement these National Partnership agreements.
Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Standing Committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (MCATSIA & SCATSIA)