Ms ANDERSON - 2006-08-24
Changes to CDEP will have a huge impact on the people in my electorate of Macdonnell. Can the minister advise the House of any recent developments in this area?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her question. She is very keen, as I am, to see much improved job outcomes for the people of Central Australia, her electorate and, for all our remote communities across the Northern Territory .
I became aware today of some concerning advice that I have in regard to the Commonwealth’s implementation of its CDEP reforms in the Alice Springs area.
Mr Mills: Oh, blame the feds again.
Mr HENDERSON: The member for Blain says: ‘Blame the feds’. I remind the member for Blain that CDEP is actually a federal program. It is not a Northern Territory government program, …
Mr Mills: Yes. They are to blame for Tiger Brennan. They are to blame for the nuclear dump.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Blain!
Mr HENDERSON: It is a federal program; it is not our program.
This is a government that has said to the Commonwealth that, ‘we want to work with you to get better employment outcomes for Aboriginal people across the Territory’. When I was initially given carriage of this portfolio, I wrote to the federal minister about this, I have spoken to him about this, saying that we have to tread carefully, we have to work community by community with full consultation with communities affected. We cannot have unintended consequences across the Northern Territory. There are no template solutions or quick fixes to the issues of getting Aboriginal people into the permanent workforce and, on face value, they agreed to work with us to achieve that end.
I am advised that a senior Commonwealth officer recently told a forum in Central Australia that the Commonwealth plans for localities with people on CDEP, to have their remote area exemptions lifted. Any community within a 90 minute drive of Alice Springs will have the remote area exemptions lifted. What that would mean is that all of those people would have to get jobs, and opportunities for jobs are mostly in Alice Springs. The jobs are not there on those communities. His advice at the forum is that there are 1200 people on CDEP now within 90 minutes of Alice Springs, and hundreds of those people are on welfare benefits.
This is a pretty alarming turn of events, where the most senior Commonwealth official in Central Australia has said the remote area exemptions are going to be lifted before the end of the year, which means that those people will have to be actively seeking work. We know, in spite of all of the efforts that this government is doing in working with communities such as Hermannsburg, Santa Teresa, Wallace Rockhole, Titjikala and Amoonguna - he also mentioned Ti Tree, and you would have to be driving pretty flat out to get from Ti Tree to Alice in less than 20 minutes – there are no jobs in those communities. However, he did say that there are thousands of unfilled jobs in Alice Springs.
This is a recipe for disaster. If the Commonwealth government, just before Christmas, lifts the remote area exemptions and it will force people to look for work, because the only place that work might be available is Alice Springs. The reality is: what are people going to do for training to get them job ready for the work that is available? What are the accommodation requirements in Alice Springs? It is bursting at the seams at the moment.
I advise the House that I have written to the Commonwealth minister today, urging him to ensure that this crazed plan does not occur. This is a government that still wants to work with the Commonwealth, community by community, consulting with the community to develop employment opportunities, on communities as well as in our regional towns. Not a blanket template, one size fits all approach to this, which would have significantly bad outcomes for the individuals and communities concerned, and, I believe, for Alice Springs.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her question. She is very keen, as I am, to see much improved job outcomes for the people of Central Australia, her electorate and, for all our remote communities across the Northern Territory .
I became aware today of some concerning advice that I have in regard to the Commonwealth’s implementation of its CDEP reforms in the Alice Springs area.
Mr Mills: Oh, blame the feds again.
Mr HENDERSON: The member for Blain says: ‘Blame the feds’. I remind the member for Blain that CDEP is actually a federal program. It is not a Northern Territory government program, …
Mr Mills: Yes. They are to blame for Tiger Brennan. They are to blame for the nuclear dump.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Blain!
Mr HENDERSON: It is a federal program; it is not our program.
This is a government that has said to the Commonwealth that, ‘we want to work with you to get better employment outcomes for Aboriginal people across the Territory’. When I was initially given carriage of this portfolio, I wrote to the federal minister about this, I have spoken to him about this, saying that we have to tread carefully, we have to work community by community with full consultation with communities affected. We cannot have unintended consequences across the Northern Territory. There are no template solutions or quick fixes to the issues of getting Aboriginal people into the permanent workforce and, on face value, they agreed to work with us to achieve that end.
I am advised that a senior Commonwealth officer recently told a forum in Central Australia that the Commonwealth plans for localities with people on CDEP, to have their remote area exemptions lifted. Any community within a 90 minute drive of Alice Springs will have the remote area exemptions lifted. What that would mean is that all of those people would have to get jobs, and opportunities for jobs are mostly in Alice Springs. The jobs are not there on those communities. His advice at the forum is that there are 1200 people on CDEP now within 90 minutes of Alice Springs, and hundreds of those people are on welfare benefits.
This is a pretty alarming turn of events, where the most senior Commonwealth official in Central Australia has said the remote area exemptions are going to be lifted before the end of the year, which means that those people will have to be actively seeking work. We know, in spite of all of the efforts that this government is doing in working with communities such as Hermannsburg, Santa Teresa, Wallace Rockhole, Titjikala and Amoonguna - he also mentioned Ti Tree, and you would have to be driving pretty flat out to get from Ti Tree to Alice in less than 20 minutes – there are no jobs in those communities. However, he did say that there are thousands of unfilled jobs in Alice Springs.
This is a recipe for disaster. If the Commonwealth government, just before Christmas, lifts the remote area exemptions and it will force people to look for work, because the only place that work might be available is Alice Springs. The reality is: what are people going to do for training to get them job ready for the work that is available? What are the accommodation requirements in Alice Springs? It is bursting at the seams at the moment.
I advise the House that I have written to the Commonwealth minister today, urging him to ensure that this crazed plan does not occur. This is a government that still wants to work with the Commonwealth, community by community, consulting with the community to develop employment opportunities, on communities as well as in our regional towns. Not a blanket template, one size fits all approach to this, which would have significantly bad outcomes for the individuals and communities concerned, and, I believe, for Alice Springs.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016