Work for the dole: it's already here
While parliamentarians of all persuasions flirt with various work-for-dole schemes, one section of the population has been living with it for 15 years. Aborigines in many remote communities and even some urban communities have "voluntarily" accepted what, in everything but name, is working for the dole.
The Community Development Employment Program, first established as a pilot project in 1976, by 1988-89 included 130 communities with a total of 21,299 participants. The scheme is based on creating work by pooling unemployment and other social security benefits due to workers in those communities, with additional costs provided by the Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Commission (ATSIC).
The 1988-89 annual report of the now defunct Department of Aboriginal Affairs spoke in glowing terms of the CDEP, claiming: "the scheme is proving to be an effective mechanism for reducing reliance on welfare payments by providing permanent part-time employment opportunities. It also provides on-the-job training and the means of achieving skills and expertise towards ventures which can generate better incomes and greater incentive for participants. It generates activity in areas where in the past there has been limited scope for personal and community development."
However, a recent report by the North Australian Development Unit of the Department of Social Security (DSS), has revealed a seamier side to this program. For the first time, the government asked Aboriginal people what they thought about it. The survey took in 43 northern Australian communities, 25 of them on CDEP.
Responses in these 25 communities included: "you work for your dole money"; "you get paid the unemployment benefit money for doing some work in the community"; "you get paid small money like that UB money for doing a few hours of work each day".
Aboriginal people in these communities said the pay was so small as to restrict people's lifestyle and trap them in poverty. The work was menial, repetitive and boring, and offered no opportunity for advancement. The system was open to manipulation by powerful family groups.
The survey also found that CDEP was badly designed and did not fit the cultural norms and practices of the communities. Because it operated outside the labour market, it
didn't prepare workers for job competition.
Despite these problems and the fact that Aboriginal people in these communities rely on DSS and CDEP payments as a major source of income, it appears there is no alternative for the near future. ATSIC is planning to promote the CDEP as a major source of income support for remote communities.
Meanwhile, Aboriginal people in 90% of the surveyed communities said they wanted "real jobs, real training and real wages".
Nigel D'Souza works in Aboriginal welfare.