Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to speak to the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021. This bill proposes a pilot for a follow-up program to the current Community Development Program, or CDP. It proposes to trial new approaches to delivering employment services in remote communities. The Australian Human Rights Commission has many times raised concerns that the CDP could be inconsistent with Australia's international human rights obligations. The Australian Greens welcome the move to replace the CDP, but we are concerned that this new proposed program is repeating the mistakes of the CDP.

As part of the pilot, the government is introducing a new payment of between $100 and $190 per fortnight, for a maximum of two years while people do work-like activities for up to 15 hours per week. This new payment will be topping up other income support payments that people may receive. The problem is that people in the program contained in this bill are not going to get even the minimum wage for the work they are doing. This pilot program also does not give people a living wage or industrial protections because they're not considered to be employees. During the inquiry into this bill, we heard from the Australian Human Rights Centre and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, who said:

… the Bill creates another work-for-the-dole framework and is a missed opportunity to trial genuinely alternative approaches based on creating jobs and promoting the right to fair and just conditions of work. The framework established by the Bill, predicated on the concept of conditional welfare, thus risks repeating many of the mistakes of the CDP.

The government tell us that they're proud of co-designing programs with First Nations people. They say that these pilots will be co-designed in partnership with the pilot communities and that the new payment will be trialled alongside other approaches to supporting people into work or training. We can't say if the principle of free, prior and informed consent as set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been followed in choosing the pilot communities. What is being done here is actually not co-design. You can't call a program which has already been designed by the government and is then trialled within communities 'co-designed'. If this government has a genuine commitment to the goals of self-determination and community based governance, First Nations people need to be not just at the table but at the steering wheel from the very beginning. We need self-determination, but we also need the resources to succeed.

The Australian Greens are concerned that this program focuses only on building skills and providing work experience but does not address the underlying cause of unemployment and underemployment in regional and remote areas of our country, which is the actual lack of economic and job opportunities. People can't be job ready if there are no jobs. The government needs to provide good, sustainable, economic empowerment. First Nations communities, elders, leaders and organisations have long demanded that all levels of government work in true partnership with First Nations people. There are already really good ideas out there on how to do that, just ask—ideas that come from First Nations people, just ask.

The Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory have put forward their proposal: fair work and strong communities. Under this plan 12,000 jobs in community controlled organisations would be created while valuing the strength, resilience, cultural, environmental and community care that is done every day in our communities.

I foreshadow second reading amendments in my name. I also advise the Senate that we will be supporting Senator Brown's second reading amendment. It is a bit rich, however, that the Labor Party are now all of a sudden claiming that they are the best friends of our people in rural, regional and remote areas, when they have come to this very chamber to support the destruction of country in the Northern Territory. It's that doublespeak? This why we need Greens in the balance of power. We would kick the Liberals out and pull Labor in to do the right thing for our people, instead of just talking the talk. We need to fundamentally change our approach to thinking about First Nations people in this country and try to find self-determined solutions, and listen to those solutions.

We need a treaty—simple as that. We don't need a voice to parliament. We don't need a referendum. We can do a treaty without those things and make that part of the negotiation. We need a treaty. Decades and decades of Aboriginal people have fought, marched, rallied for a treaty. Have you ever heard of a black fella marching and rallying to jump into the Australian Constitution? I haven't and I've been going to the rallies since I was five. A treaty or treaties can acknowledge the ongoing and historical injustices of colonisation that have caused our communities to be impoverished. And a treaty can also show us the way forward as a nation.

You talk about uniting—we have a party called One Nation—we do need to unite. We need peace. First Nations people want peace. A treaty would genuinely protect the rights of First Nations people. It would also protect our land and cultures. It will allow us to self-determine our own destiny. It would establish a proper framework of how we can come to decisions together. It will lead to much better outcomes.

It is time you move on from making decisions for our people. You've got to stop making decisions for us. I don't make decisions for your family, why do you make decisions for mine? Why can't we make our own decisions. We know what the solutions are. We can work with the government and we can create solutions together, that's what a treaty could bring this whole nation. It is time you move on from making decisions for us. Let us make our own. The Australian Greens cannot support this bill in its current form. I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate notes that:

(a) this bill replaces the Community Development Program with a new framework piloting how employment services are delivered in remote communities, particularly communities with a high number of First Nations people;

(b) these pilot programs dishonour the Federal Government's commitment to formal partnerships and shared decision-making in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap as it is not clear how communities have been chosen to participate in the pilots or if the principles of free, prior, and informed consent were followed when working with these communities;

(c) people in these pilot programs will not be paid a living wage for work they are required to perform and they will not be given the industrial protections available to all working people;

(d) this bill is opposed by human rights organisations, Aboriginal community controlled organisations, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services; and

(e) this bill does not address the underlying issue causing under-employment or unemployment in regional, remote, and very remote areas of the country; namely, the lack of economic and job opportunities".