Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Minister, how will the outcomes of the Jobs and Skills Summit deliver proper jobs and wages for Indigenous Australians in remote communities?

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lingiari for her question, and recognise that she has a very deep interest in this issue and an intimate understanding of a community development program.

The Albanese Labor government believes that the CDP is broken. It has been broken for a very long time. Communities tell us it is broken. It does not result in employment. It does not result in people participating properly in the scheme, and the scheme needs rebuilding. It needs replacing, in fact, and that's precisely what we intend to do.

There are 40,000 people in 1,000 communities who are on the Community Development Program, and 85 per cent of those 40,000 people are First Nations people. It is a program that is not fit for purpose and has caused real hurt and real harm in communities, and it has certainly not ended up with people getting employment. We believe the CDP should be replaced, and that's what we're moving to do. It should be a scheme that is about real wages, decent conditions and real jobs. That is what the outcome will be.

Just last week I held a round table in the lead-up to the skills summit, to address these issues directly. There were representatives from peak bodies, alliances and unions, community leaders and local councils, and all had an opportunity to have a frank conversation about this failed scheme. Mr Micky Wunungmurra, from the Arnhem Land Progress association, warmly welcomed our approach, describing it like this—and this is a person that knows this scheme very well: 'It is a way to build sustainability and a better future for our people.'

We will be holding more targeted consultations; in fact, that is being planned as we speak. We know the previous government did not listen to people who knew this program well. We believe in self-determination. That's what we will put in place. Most importantly, we have freed up providers by 25 per cent of the current funding to try new things, to trust them to be able to do new things in community, to deliver real jobs, proper wages and decent conditions.