Indigenous employment services reforms introduced
Changes to the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) programme, which took effect on Sunday 1 July, are already leading to reduced levels of welfare dependency.
Since February 2007, when the 2007-08 reforms to Indigenous employment services were announced, 1182 people have commenced employment. Almost 90 per cent of these people have moved into full time work.
Those who have not yet found work will be assisted by a wide range of employment programmes, including the highly successful brokerage service, Structured Training and Employment Projects (STEP).
As a result of these reforms, Indigenous job seekers will have access to more than 170 job brokers across the country. These brokers will work with job seekers to improve their skills in order to assist them to find jobs in Australian businesses.
STEP is one of the most successful components of the Australian Government’s Indigenous Employment Policy. It offers flexibility combined with work experience and training.
Where CDEP continues to operate, there are now additional incentives for CDEP providers to get participants into real work for 26 weeks or more.
The reforms were made in response to the discussion paper, Indigenous Potential meets Economic Opportunity, released on 6 November 2006.