Closing the Gap: Federal Government to launch new Indigenous employment program

A new Indigenous employment program aimed at creating 3000 jobs in the next three years will be unveiled on Tuesday as the Federal Government starts mapping out its post-referendum plans for closing the gap. The Government is replacing the Coalition’s Indigenous jobseeker program – known as the Community Development Program (CDP) – with a new remote employment scheme that promises “real jobs, proper wages and decent conditions”. More than $700 million will be spent as a first step in rolling out the program, which is designed to help address the high rate of Indigenous unemployment. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney will make the announcement on Tuesday as she hands the latest annual report on Closing the Gap. The update – to be delivered on the 16th anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generation – will be the minister’s first major address to the Federal Parliament on Indigenous affairs since the failed the Voice to Parliament referendum in October. The Government has been under growing pressure to outline a new plan to tackle Indigenous disadvantage and progress reconciliation after putting so much weight on the idea of a First Nations advisory body. The pressure intensified last week after the Productivity Commission released a scathing report that warned the historic agreement to achieve the Closing the Gap targets would fail unless all governments urgently lifted their game. The announcement of the new Indigenous jobs program has been foreshadowed in recent days with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emphasising the Government was now firmly focused on “practical measures”. Ms Burney said remote communities had been crying out for a fix to the “mess” created by the “failed” CDP. The Government will work with Indigenous organisations, including the Coalition of Peaks, to design the new program ahead of its launch in the second half of 2024. While details are scant at this stage, the new program will involve local organisations employing people across all existing CDP locations. Communities will have the freedom to choose what types of jobs are created, with a key aim to reduce the reliance on FIFO workers. Local businesses will be able to apply to a new $185 million fund for money to purchase equipment and capital. “For too long, people in remote communities have missed out on economic opportunities and have been stuck in cycles of poverty,” Ms Burney said. “This is about putting communities in the driver’s seat to create local jobs and businesses. “Rates of unemployment in remote communities are unacceptable and this is the first step in turning that around.”