CDEP Plan Cynical

Member for Lingiari and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs Warren Snowdon welcomed today's announcement of extra places for the Community Development Employment Program.

But Mr Snowdon said the announcement was a cynical exercise that would fool no-one.

'Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews clearly has no understanding of the history of CDEP, nor of the impact of 10 years of the Howard Government's hamfisted approach to Indigenous affairs,' Mr Snowdon said.

'He talks up CDEP supporting night patrols and women's shelters as if this was a totally new idea.

'And he claims that this so-called new initiative somehow proves that CDEP is alive and well.

'This is the political equivalent of the three-card trick, embellished by a breath-taking cynicism.

'Like CDEP, women's shelters and night patrols were community initiatives, which means they were conceived, developed and made into reality by Aboriginal people.

'This government withdrew funding for women's shelters and other family support programs ten years ago when it went about dismantling ATSIC.

'It's since made hay criticising communities for doing nothing about family violence and it's made no secret of the fact that CDEP was under the hammer.

'The Minister's announcement makes it very clear that he and his department are making the decisions regardless of what communities want or need.

'And the unfortunate reality for many communities is that the CDEPs they worked hard to set up have been handed over to outside providers who have no experience of CDEP and even less understanding of the needs of Indigenous communities.

'Numbers alone don't mean CDEP is in a healthy state,' Mr Snowdon said.

2007-01-03