The Building Blocks — Action to Close the Gap (Continued)
Closing the Gap: Economic Participation
COAG has committed to halving the employment gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians by 2018. To meet this target, major reforms have already been implemented to promote Indigenous people's participation in the wider economy.
A pivotal role is played by Job Services Australia (JSA), the new network of employment service providers that commenced on 1 July 2009. JSA works with the two principal Indigenous specific programs relaunched on the same date: the Indigenous Employment Program (IEP) and the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program.
As the largest employment program for Indigenous Australians, assisting over 95,000 Indigenous people, Job Services Australia (JSA) plays a pivotal role in closing the employment gap. Since it commenced on 1 July 2009 through to 31 March 2010, JSA had achieved over 25,600 job placements for Indigenous people and over 5,500 disadvantaged Indigenous job seekers had been placed in jobs for at least 13 weeks. Indigenous job seekers are able to access specialist services from over 181 JSA sites and a total of 18 Indigenous organisations have been contracted in their own right to provide JSA services.
In 2008, the Government committed over $750 million over five years to the reformed IEP. The IEP complements the work of JSA providers, enabling individuals, communities and employers to benefit from tailored employment assistance packages including wage subsidies, training and mentoring and business support. In the first nine months of the reformed program, there were 12,777 commencements in the program, and over 7,500 employment placements.
The IEP is also supporting larger projects such as the Australian Employment Covenant that are advancing productive partnerships between Indigenous people and the private and non-government sectors. Funding is also being provided to the Aboriginal Employment Strategy until 30 June 2012 to provide assistance in nine sites in New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
In December 2008, the Government announced it would commit a net $202.4 million over five years to reform CDEP around Australia, excepting the Torres Strait. The reforms are strengthening Indigenous communities and supporting Indigenous people in predominantly remote areas through community development and participation opportunities that develop skills, improve capacity, work readiness and employability, and link with local priorities. The 2010‑11 Budget provides funding to extend these reforms to the Torres Strait region.
Based on consultations with Indigenous communities about CDEP reforms, the Australian Government has committed $55.0 million over four years from 2009‑10 for a national network of 87 Indigenous Community Support Service providers.
These providers are helping to connect Indigenous people and their families with a range of services including caring for families, early childhood, education, training, employment, financial management, housing, health and legal services.
Those participating in CDEP can access a range of personalised training and support designed to give them the skills needed to get a job. This includes vocational training, on-the-job work experience, literacy and numeracy training, mentoring support, and general work and life skills training. Employers providing work experience placements for new CDEP participants have access to the CDEP Work Experience Subsidy. At the end of March 2010 the reformed programs had achieved 1,877 employment outcomes.
The community development stream provides local people with the support and tools they need to deal with issues of importance to them. CDEP providers are working with their communities to develop community action plans setting out goals and actions to improve community life. The Government has recently approved $172.4 million over three years from 2009‑10 to help implement these plans in over 600 remote communities and outstations.
CDEP subsidisation of the delivery of government services to communities is being phased out across Australia. CDEP participants undertaking roles such as municipal service operators or health workers are being transferred into funded positions in government service delivery, with proper wages and conditions. The creation of properly funded jobs from CDEP positions is one of the principal strategies in the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Economic Participation. The Australian Government has committed $172.7 million and the State and Territory Governments $56.2 million over the five years of the agreement from 2008‑09 to support the creation of up to 2,000 jobs from former CDEP positions. At April 2010, 1,538 positions had been created by the Commonwealth and the other jurisdictions. A further 2,211 jobs were established in the Northern Territory by December 2009 under the Northern Territory Emergency Response Jobs Package (over $90 million over three years).
Indigenous enterprises provide a pathway for many Indigenous people to reach their economic goals. Indigenous businesses provide self-employment and employment opportunities for Indigenous people, helping to close the gap in employment outcomes.
The reformed IEP has continued to provide a range of assistance to support economic development activities and growth for Indigenous enterprises. In particular, the IEP has provided over 120 Indigenous enterprises with business support to set up, run and expand their business.
At least 30 of these Indigenous businesses are operating commercially with the support of the IEP's Indigenous Capital Assistance Scheme. These businesses are accessing commercial loans worth over $5.6 million through the Westpac Banking Corporation, the Government's partner in this scheme.
The Australian Government is providing $1.9 million from 2008‑09 to 2010‑11 to the Queensland Government to support the full time employment of nine Indigenous Enterprise Development officers at various locations across Queensland. The project aims to deliver on the ground economic and enterprise development services to Indigenous Queenslanders.
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Indigenous Business Australia have jointly provided funding of $0.15 million in 2009‑10 to undertake a scoping study to explore the expansion of the East Arnhem Land Business Development Approach as successfully piloted in the Galiwinku community. The approach aims to provide direct small business development and support services on the ground to regional and remote communities.
Government procurement policies are being amended to boost Indigenous employment and business. In February 2010 the Australian Government launched an enhanced Indigenous Opportunities Policy under the National Partnership Agreement, which will have a staged implementation from 1 July 2010. The policy requires companies submitting bids for high value projects (over $5.0 million, or over $6.0 million for construction projects) in regions with significant Indigenous populations to develop an Indigenous Training, Employment and Supplier Plan as part of their application. This will encourage corporate social responsibility in relation to Indigenous employment and training and the use of Indigenous suppliers. The Government will continue to consult with the sector between now and the commencement of the Indigenous Opportunities Policy in July this year.
The Australian Government is also supporting a three year pilot of the Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council to help Indigenous businesses contract directly with corporate and government buyers of goods and services.
The Commonwealth and state and territory governments have agreed to raise the level of Indigenous employment in the public sector to at least 2.6 per cent to reflect the proportion of Indigenous people in the population. The Government has already invested $6.0 million over three years from 2009‑10 in the Australian Public Service Commission's Indigenous Employment Strategy to support Australian Public Service agencies in meeting the target. This Budget provides funding to assist Commonwealth public sector agencies outside the Australian Public Service to meet or exceed this target.
The Government's Business Action Agenda, funded in last year's Budget ($3.0 million over four years), is seeking closer involvement of the private sector in Closing the Gap. A Government Ambassador for Business Action, Mr Colin Carter, was appointed in February 2010. Mr Carter has worked on community-business partnerships in Cape York and regional Victoria and will be engaging corporate leaders across the country, encouraging them to share their expertise with Indigenous people, businesses and communities.
Many Australian companies are already contributing to Closing the Gap through their Reconciliation Action Plans and participation in initiatives such as the Australian Employment Covenant.
Indigenous culture and cultural knowledge is an important economic asset. The Working on Country program trains and employs Indigenous rangers for work on environmental and cultural activities. The 2008‑09 Budget provided $90 million over five years for an additional 300 rangers, with the majority of the projects to be funded by June 2010. Working on Country currently employs around 630 Indigenous rangers on 66 projects nationwide.
The Australian Government has committed to secure a reliable level of income for the Indigenous Land Corporation. New funding arrangements guarantee an annual payment of $45.0 million to the Indigenous Land Corporation from 2010‑11 with later year payments indexed to the Consumer Price Index.
Budget measure: Reform of Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program in the Torres Strait
The Budget is providing $44.3 million over four years from 2010‑11 to align CDEP in the Torres Strait, administered by the Torres Strait Regional Authority, with reforms to the national CDEP program that commenced in other areas of Australia from 1 July 2009. This funding will be sourced from within the national CDEP program. In order that individuals, businesses and the Torres Strait community have adequate time to adjust, the reforms will be staged over two years.
The first stage, from 1 July 2010, will apply the reformed CDEP program rules, including the need for participants to register with employment services, and fund more than 200 positions in Australian Government service delivery. The second stage will see new CDEP entrants receiving income support payments instead of CDEP wages, and properly paid jobs created in State and local government service delivery. Continuing participants will receive CDEP wages until 30 June 2012.
Budget measure: Business skills for visual artists (National Arts and Crafts Industry Support element) - continuation
The Budget continues support for the Business Skills for Visual Artists initiative at a cost of $4.0 million over four years, to enable Indigenous art centres to develop sustainable business models within the wider National Arts and Craft Industry Support (NACIS) Program.
NACIS supports more than 80 art centres across Australia, and more than 5,000 artists. Community-controlled art centres enable Indigenous people to engage in the mainstream economy and are often the only source of non-government income in remote locations. The centres also promote health and wellbeing and cultural maintenance.
A 2007 Senate inquiry into the Indigenous visual arts and craft sector identified a critical need for training for Indigenous artists particularly in the areas of business planning and artists' rights and responsibilities.
Since the introduction in 2006‑07 of the business skills initiative there has been a 68 per cent increase in the number of NACIS activities and support for more than 30 communities not previously funded
Budget measure: Public sector employment strategy for non-Australian Public Service (APS) employees
This measure provides $1.6 million in 2010‑11 to enhance the ability of Australian government employers that are outside the Australian Public Service (non-APS agencies) to recruit and retain Indigenous staff.
Through the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Economic Participation the Australian Government is committed to meeting or exceeding 2.6 per cent national target for Indigenous employment in the public sector by 2015. Engagement of non-APS public sector employers is essential to meeting this target.
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