Policy issues for the Community Development Employment Projects scheme in rural and remote Australia

Altman, Jon and Gray, Matthew and Levitus, Robert (2005): Policy issues for the Community Development Employment Projects scheme in rural and remote Australia. Published in: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Discussion Paper No. 283 (2005)

Abstract

One of the most important programs for Indigenous community and economic development is the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme. CDEP employs around 35,000 Indigenous Australians and accounts for over one-quarter of total Indigenous employment. This paper reviews the evidence on the social and economic impacts of the scheme. The available evidence demonstrates that the scheme has positive economic and community development impacts and that it is cost effective in achieving these outcomes. The paper argues that the CDEP program should continue to be supported and resourced and outlines options for future policy directions in regard to Indigenous economic development and the role of the CDEP scheme.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: The Australian National University
• Language: English
• Keywords: Indigenous; labour market programs; economic development
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J22 - Time Allocation and Labor Supply; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J20 - General

References

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) 2003. Annual Report 2002–2003, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. —— 2004a. CDEP Handbook, 2003–2004, Employment and Training Branch, ATSIC, Adelaide, available at <http://www.atsic.gov.au/Programs/CDEP/Doc/cdep_procedures.doc>, consulted 9 September 2004. —— 2004b. Summary of ATSIC Employment, Training and CDEP Policies 2004–2006, Employment and Training Branch, ATSIC, Adelaide. Altman, J.C. 1987. Hunter-Gatherers Today: An Aboriginal Economy in North Australia, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra. —— 1997. ‘The CDEP scheme in a new policy environment: options for change?’ CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 148, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 2001. ‘“Mutual obligation”, the CDEP scheme, and development: prospects in remote Australia’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 2004. ‘Economic development and Indigenous Australians: contestations over property, institutions and ideology’, Australian Journal of Resource and Agricultural Economics, 48 (3): 513–34. —— and Dillon, M.C. 2004. ‘A profi t-related investment scheme for the Indigenous estate’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 270, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. ——, Gray, M.C. and Sanders, W.G. 2000. ‘Indigenous Australians working for welfare: what difference does it make?’ The Australian Economic Review, 33 (4): 355–62. —— and Johnson, V. 2000. ‘The CDEP in town and country Arnhem Land: Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 209, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— and Nieuwenhuysen, J. 1979. The Economic Status of Australian Aborigines, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. —— and Sanders, W.G. 1991. ‘Government initiatives for Aboriginal employment: equity, equality and policy realism’, in J.C. Altman (ed.), Aboriginal Employment Equity by the Year 2000, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 2, CAEPR, ANU, and Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Canberra. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2004. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, Australia 2002, cat. no. 4714.0, ABS, Canberra. Australian National Audit Offi ce (ANAO) 2001. Municipal Services for Indigenous Communities, Commonwealth of Australia, ANAO, Canberra. CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH DISCUSSION PAPER N0. 271 33 Borland, J. and Hunter, B.H. 2000. ‘Does crime affect employment status? The case of Indigenous Australians’, Economica, 67 (1): 123–44. Commonwealth Grants Commission (CGC) 2001. Report on Indigenous Funding 2000, CGC, Canberra. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu 1993. No Reverse Gear: A National Review of the Community Development Employment Projects Scheme, Report to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, ATSIC, Canberra. Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) 2001. Job Network Evaluation Stage Two: Progress Report, EPPB Report 2/2001, Evaluation and Programme Performance Branch, Labour Market Policy Group, DEWR, Canberra. —— 2004. Indigenous Training and Employment Outcomes, Submission to Senate Standing Committee, Workplace Relations and Education, 22 July. Gray, M.C and Thacker, E. 2000. ‘A case study of the Bungala CDEP: economic and social impacts’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 208, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. Hunter, B.H. 2002. ‘Some interrelationships between the CDEP scheme and Indigenous labour supply’, CAEPR Working Paper No. 14, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra, available at <http://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/>. —— 2004. Indigenous Australians in the Contemporary Labour Market, cat. no. 2052.0, ABS, Canberra. —— and Gray, M.C. 2004 ‘Patterns of Indigenous job search activity’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 263, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— and Schwab, R.G. 1998. ‘The determinants of Indigenous educational outcomes’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 160, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— and Taylor, J. 2002. ‘An overview of the costs of Indigenous unemployment’, in P. Saunders and R. Taylor (eds), The Price of Prosperity, UNSW Press, Sydney. —— and —— 2004. ‘Indigenous employment forecasts: implications for reconciliation’, Agenda, 11 (2): 179–92. Johnston, E. 1991. Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. Jonas, W. 2001. ‘CDEP, racial discrimination and social justice’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. Madden, R. 2000. ‘If it wasn’t for CDEP: A case study of Worn Gundidj CDEP, Victoria’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 210, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. 34 ALTMAN, GRAY & LEVITUS CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH Madden, R. 2001. ‘CDEP in Victoria: a case study of Worn Gundidj’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. McClure, P. 2000. Participation Support for a More Equitable Society, Final Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform, Canberra. Miller, M. (Chair) 1985. The Report of the Committee of Review of Aboriginal Employment and Training Programs, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. Misko, J. 2004. The Role of Community Development Employment Projects in Rural and Remote Communities, NCVER, Adelaide. Morphy, F. and Sanders, W. (eds) 2001. The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. Offi ce of Evaluation and Audit 1997. Evaluation of the Community Development Employment Projects Program: Final Report, ATSIC, Canberra. Pearson, N. 2000. Our Right to Take Responsibility, Noel Pearson and Associates, Cairns. Rowley, C.D. 1971. The Remote Aborigines: Aboriginal Policy and Practice, Vol. 3, ANU Press, Canberra. Rowse, T. 2001. ‘The political dimensions of community development’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 2002. Indigenous Futures, UNSW Press, Sydney. Sanders, W. 1985. ‘The politics of unemployment benefi t for Aborigines: some consequences of economic marginalisation’, in D. Wade-Marshall and P. Loveday (eds), Employment and Unemployment: A Collection of Papers, NARU, ANU, Darwin. —— 1988. ‘The CDEP scheme: bureaucratic politics, remote community politics and the development of an Aboriginal “workfare” program in times of rising unemployment’, Politics, 23(1): 32–47. —— 1993. ‘The rise and rise of the CDEP scheme: an Aboriginal “workfare” program in times of persistent unemployment’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 54, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 1997. ‘Opportunities and problems astride the welfare/work divide: the CDEP scheme in Australian social policy’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 141, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 2001. ‘Adjusting balances: reshaping the CDEP scheme after 20 good years’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH DISCUSSION PAPER N0. 271 35 —— 2004. ‘Indigenous centres in the policy margins: the CDEP scheme over 30 years’, CAEPR Topical Issues Paper No. 15, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra, available at <http://www.anu.edu.au/caepr/>. Saunders, P. 2004. Australia’s Welfare Habit and How to Kick It, Duffy & Snellgrove and Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney. Shergold, P. 2001. ‘The Indigenous Employment Policy: a preliminary evaluation’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. Smith, D.E. 1994. ‘“Working for CDEP”: a case study of the Community Development Employment Projects scheme in Port Lincoln, South Australia’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 75, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 1995. ‘Redfern works: the policy and community challenges of an urban CDEP scheme’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 99, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 1996. ‘CDEP as urban enterprise: the case of Yarnteen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Corporation’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 114, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. —— 2001. ‘Welfare dependence, mutual obligation, and the CDEP scheme: lessons from community research and an overseas initiative’, in F. Morphy and W. Sanders (eds), The Indigenous Welfare Economy and the CDEP Scheme, CAEPR Research Monograph No. 20, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra. Spicer, I. 1997. Independent Review of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) Scheme, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Stanley, O. 1985. ‘Prospects for development and employment in rural Aboriginal communities’, in D. Wade-Marshall and P. Loveday (eds), Employment and Unemployment: A Collection of Papers,