Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Scullion. How is the Community Development Program supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in remote communities into work, and why is it important that all Australians have an opportunity to get a job?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Brockman for that question. Both he and probably everyone else in this room will acknowledge that supporting all Australians into an opportunity for a job is probably one of the most important things we can do. The Community Development Program is a government remote employment service that works with all jobseekers in remote Australia to provide training, engagement, work experience—the sort of support they need to transition into work. The Community Development Program is working to deliver jobs that remote Australia needs.

Since the introduction of the Community Development Program, remote jobseekers have been supported into more than 27,607 jobs. Most importantly, more than 9,300 of those jobs have lasted for six months. Why is that important? The data show that, if you're there for six months, 82 per cent of you will be in a job two years later. It's really important; it's long-term employment. That's the evidence. This is absolutely our priority. If you've got a community where adults are engaged in training, whether it's work experience or increasingly in work, it's a much healthier community, rather than one that's plagued by the misery of passive welfare. That's what I see when I visit remote communities. That's what leaders like Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Noel Pearson, Roy Ah-See, Sammy Bush Banasi and Susan Murphy have called for.

But I agree, and I've been talking to many of you in this place, that there is much more to do. We need to generate more jobs. I'm very proud of the success of Indigenous businesses in winning contracts under our Indigenous Procurement Policy. We're supporting states and territories not only to introduce their own procurement policies but to make sure there are local Indigenous employment targets as part of that. This is part of our record infrastructure rollout. We have also announced the introduction of 6,000 subsidised job packages in remote Australia. This is going to boost opportunities for every jobseeker. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brockman, a supplementary question?

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, how is the Liberal-National government working in partnership with local communities to support remote jobseekers?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Community Development Program works because it works in partnership with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. It will respond to local community priorities that meet the needs and aspirations of local jobseekers. It will take advantage of the opportunities and circumstances of local job markets because it's delivered by local organisations and allows the local decision-making.

When I became minister, I inherited what I think most around this place would agree was a failed remote jobs and community program that was introduced by effectively non-Indigenous employment companies with head offices in Brisbane, Sydney or sometimes even overseas. We don't agree with that approach. I suspect no-one in this place does. We believe in local organisations running that. We believe in empowered communities. That's what the CDP will deliver. Organisations like RASAC, in the APY lands, are now delivering this program for the benefit of their own communities.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brockman, a final supplementary question?

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What other measures is this government delivering to support Australians in remote communities into work?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not only do our Indigenous business policies help create small business opportunities but we're also getting more Indigenous jobseekers off the misery of welfare into the dignity of work. In the thousand new Indigenous businesses winning over a billion dollars worth of contracts in the IPP, they've got an Indigenous workforce, unsurprisingly, of over 50 per cent. Given that Indigenous Australians are three per cent of the population, you expect the average workforce to be around that. But they are at 50 per cent. That means that the more we back Indigenous small business, the more Indigenous jobseekers we're getting into work who are actually contributing to their own lives and their own economy. As we support all Australian small businesses with a more competitive tax rate so they can keep more of their own money, that applies equally to Indigenous businesses. It gets more small-business activity and even more jobseekers into work. That's what we believe on this side of this chamber—more runs on the board.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.