• indigeneous crisis possible solutions

The program of housing improvement is in my view the most effective thing that could be done to rescue the children from abuse. Where you have a wide-spread situation where 20+ people are living in a 2 bedroom house or worse; you have a recipe for disaster.

Combine this with the reinstitution of CDEP and a serious extra-CDEP program of job and industry creation and you will see some improvement. I am appalled by the hypocrisy of those who condemn CDEP for Blackfellas and then suck mightily on the public tit themselves.

"CDEP was intended to be a stepping stone to a real job. In reality it has become a permanent destination."

KERRY O'BRIEN: Bob Gregory and Treasury head Ken Henry are questioning the merits of the CDEP - the work-for-the-dole scheme - as a pathway to more permanent work. I think Ken Henry raises the question as to whether or not they're not acting as a trap against employment. Do you agree?


NOEL PEARSON: I suspect that the Treasury Secretary is correct when he says that CDEP has become a trap because, you know, you've got a school leaver a secondary school leaver who has a fork in the road at the end of Year 12. This is the typical Cape York kid. We're going to have 20 of them from Hopevale at the end of this year. They're going to reach a fork in the road. And that fork is do I go home and get $180 for working two days a week on the CDEP, work-for-the-dole program, or do I go to study at TAFE or to study at university for less money? That's one of the disincentive problems currently facing kids on Cape York. It's more lucrative to go on CDEP than it is to apply for Aboriginal study assistance to go to TAFE or to university. And we're just seeing kids choosing the wrong fork in the road every time and CDEP then becomes a trap where they remain unskilled, where they never learn to work in a real work environment. It's always a make-work environment, and they're stuck there for the rest of their lives.


KERRY O'BRIEN: But very briefly, what do you say to those who fear that welfare will in the end be taken from some people who genuinely need it?


NOEL PEARSON: There's no question of taking money away and depriving people of their entitlements. What the question is, is are people allocating and using the resources they get for their family for the benefit of their family? If they are, then they should be undisturbed in their management of the welfare support they receive. But if they are not managing their money for the benefit of their children and their family members, they're blowing it on the grog, they're blowing it on the pokies, they're blowing it in the gambling school. In those cases there's got to be intervention, Kerry, because if we don't intervene early when the mother or the father starts to misspend the money, if we don't intervene early, somebody intervenes later on. And usually that intervener who comes later on is a child protection officer who ends up taking the kids away and putting them into foster care. And I tell you, the epidemic of child removals from dysfunctional families rages on in remote communities, absolutely rages on. And my determination is to intervene at a much earlier stage to make sure that people are using the resources they have to feed their children, clothe their children, look after their family members. And I say I'm prepared to be paternalistic in relation to an early intervention because the ultimate paternalistic act, which is the State stepping in and taking children away from their families, is something we have to avoid at all costs.

"A 14-point plan designed to retain and improve Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) has been handed to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by Indigenous representatives from Arnhem Land"

"Ministers Joe Hockey and Mal Brough's decision to abolish the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme in remote Indigenous communities in the NT will have marked impacts on the arts industry, the management of Indigenous Protected Areas, and community based Caring for Country ranger projects"

Bill there is no doubt that the administration and focus of the CDEP scheme is critical. The deliberate perversion of the scheme by the Howard Government has allowed people like Pearson to point out the deficiencies, that it had degenerated into an uncapitalised make work scheme, and then to use it to beat blackfellas over the head with.

I will have a look at the 14 point plan and comment further. 

Dalek

Bill I am as yet unable to find the 14 point plan (would appreciate it if you could post the URL) however I did find this very interesting take on the impact of the removal of CDEP in communities. The Howard government and its racist allies deliberately conflated CDEP with work for the dole programs and accurately pointed out that the work for the dole program is basically a dead end.

This was never the intent of CDEP. OK a lot of the programs were based around art and thus would no doubt attract the scorn of the muscular denizens of LS but they are real enterprises that actually sell goods and earn money. I see this as no different from the massive subsidies that are enjoyed by the car manufacturing industries; for example - except that the subsidy goes mostly directly to the workers and not into the hands of capitalist rent seekers.

It appears that you have a real problem with this.

Dalec

First, we must invest in enhanced individual capabilities.  Capabilities reflect the choices and opportunities that people have available to them and may be improved not only through income, but also through education, health, access to employment and markets, and quality of the social environment. Developing capabilities will require both individual motivation and enabling structures. 

Second, mobility and ‘orbiting’ must become an acceptable option for individuals and families, and programs for promoting and potentially subsidising orbiting must be developed.  The Government must also invest in infrastructure to permit orbiting, such as improved access and all-weather roads.

Third, we must foster policies and attitudes which enable engagement with the real economy.  This includes welfare reform, but also includes facilitating access to other markets, including a real housing market and opportunities for business creation.

The key test for me is. do the "reforms" include the return to the enclosure and privatisation of communally owned land a la 19th century.

Now Bill will argue that this is progressive in that it will create a class of wage labourers who have nothing to sell other than their labour power.

Dalek

A common concern is that encouraging mobility will lead to the inevitable decline of
such communities. We do not believe that this is correct. The strong and ongoing
cultural connection to ancestral lands for the Indigenous people of Cape York means
that it is very likely that people will choose to maintain their communities, even as
they orbit back and forth to the mainstream.

Critically, however, choosing to stay should not be a default consequence of
incapability, particularly due to a failed education. This would be a choice of
desperation, due to a lack of feasible alternatives. Instead choosing to stay should be
an informed choice from a full range of alternatives that reflects people’s passions,
talents and preferences.

Nor should the choice to stay be an implicit choice of dependence, with the hope that
government support for local development will be enough to solve the current
deprivation crisis. Instead, choosing to stay needs to be grounded in a keen awareness
of the fundamental economic context, and the policies and attitudes required to build a real economy
- pp12-13, Can Cape York Communities be economically viable?

I agree, mobility is not a problem from the perspective of the decline of communities. In fact it is an essential component of a program to lift the communities up. returnees who have been successful in a field  are inspirational to those who remain. As well as this they bring education (in the broadest term) and money into the communities.

Housing has to be the first priority, the conditions in most of the communities are appalling. These conditions just breed the dysfunction and the sexual abuse that exists.

It would seem that humanity has not moved on from the nuclear family paradigm where a strong Matriarch or Patriarch keeps order and decorum.

Put twenty mothers and children and five or six loosely related unemployed males into a house together and you have a recipe for all sorts of abuse - regardless of "race".

There are in fact unlimited opportunities for real income generating activities in the remote areas. The real problem is that Capitalism will not invest in them when it can get far better returns investing in casino's and real estate etc etc.

Dalec

The future that the Institute envisages is one in which the people of Cape York Peninsula internalise a set of revitalised social norms, which mandate personal responsibility for work, education and the welfare of children, so that they become free from dependence on passive welfare and so that child neglect and abuse cease....

The reform concepts include:
• Welfare reform is a transition from dependency to economic development.
• Economic viability in remote communities is predicated on mobility, and viability is
fundamentally a question of choice for remote communities.
• The metaphor of the staircase: The foundations of progress are strong social norms. The supports underpinning the staircase are capabilities, which include for example health, education and political and economic freedoms. The third component of the metaphor is rationally aligned stairs, representing individual choice.
• Capabilities are the sum of opportunity plus responsibility.
• The metaphor of the welfare pedestal was developed by Cape York people to express the idea that incentives are skewed. The current set of incentives put many people on a pedestal below the staircase of opportunity; they first need to take a step down before the process of climbing the staircase can begin

• Attach four obligations to welfare payments, requiring that:
  
  • Each adult who receives welfare payments with respect to a child should be required to ensure that the child maintains a 100 percent attendance record;
    
  • All adults must not cause or allow children to be neglected or abused;
    
  • All adults must not commit drug, alcohol, gambling or family violence offences; and
    
  • All adults must abide by conditions related to their tenancy in public housing.
    
• Establish a ‘Family Responsibilities Commission’ – chaired by a retired Magistrate and consisting of respected members of the Welfare Reform communities – to enforce and support the obligations, with four main options:
  
  • Issue a warning to the individual;
  • Direct individuals to attend support services;
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to conditional income management; or
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to another adult who is caring for the individual’s children.
• Reform CDEP to encourage people off welfare and into jobs, and create further opportunities for mobility and job creation.
• Introduce education initiatives focused on literacy at primary schools and supporting children to attend boarding schools at secondary level.
• Normalise tenancy arrangements and provide home ownership opportunities.

The future that the Institute envisages is one in which the people of Cape York Peninsula internalise a set of revitalised social norms, which mandate personal responsibility for work, education and the welfare of children, so that they become free from dependence on passive welfare and so that child neglect and abuse cease....

The reform concepts include:
• Welfare reform is a transition from dependency to economic development.
• Economic viability in remote communities is predicated on mobility, and viability is
fundamentally a question of choice for remote communities.
• The metaphor of the staircase: The foundations of progress are strong social norms. The supports underpinning the staircase are capabilities, which include for example health, education and political and economic freedoms. The third component of the metaphor is rationally aligned stairs, representing individual choice.
• Capabilities are the sum of opportunity plus responsibility.
• The metaphor of the welfare pedestal was developed by Cape York people to express the idea that incentives are skewed. The current set of incentives put many people on a pedestal below the staircase of opportunity; they first need to take a step down before the process of climbing the staircase can begin

• Attach four obligations to welfare payments, requiring that:
  
  • Each adult who receives welfare payments with respect to a child should be required to ensure that the child maintains a 100 percent attendance record;
    
  • All adults must not cause or allow children to be neglected or abused;
    
  • All adults must not commit drug, alcohol, gambling or family violence offences; and
    
  • All adults must abide by conditions related to their tenancy in public housing.
    
• Establish a ‘Family Responsibilities Commission’ – chaired by a retired Magistrate and consisting of respected members of the Welfare Reform communities – to enforce and support the obligations, with four main options:
  
  • Issue a warning to the individual;
  • Direct individuals to attend support services;
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to conditional income management; or
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to another adult who is caring for the individual’s children.
• Reform CDEP to encourage people off welfare and into jobs, and create further opportunities for mobility and job creation.
• Introduce education initiatives focused on literacy at primary schools and supporting children to attend boarding schools at secondary level.
• Normalise tenancy arrangements and provide home ownership opportunities.

The future that the Institute envisages is one in which the people of Cape York Peninsula internalise a set of revitalised social norms, which mandate personal responsibility for work, education and the welfare of children, so that they become free from dependence on passive welfare and so that child neglect and abuse cease....

The reform concepts include:
• Welfare reform is a transition from dependency to economic development.
• Economic viability in remote communities is predicated on mobility, and viability is
fundamentally a question of choice for remote communities.
• The metaphor of the staircase: The foundations of progress are strong social norms. The supports underpinning the staircase are capabilities, which include for example health, education and political and economic freedoms. The third component of the metaphor is rationally aligned stairs, representing individual choice.
• Capabilities are the sum of opportunity plus responsibility.
• The metaphor of the welfare pedestal was developed by Cape York people to express the idea that incentives are skewed. The current set of incentives put many people on a pedestal below the staircase of opportunity; they first need to take a step down before the process of climbing the staircase can begin

• Attach four obligations to welfare payments, requiring that:
  
  • Each adult who receives welfare payments with respect to a child should be required to ensure that the child maintains a 100 percent attendance record;
    
  • All adults must not cause or allow children to be neglected or abused;
    
  • All adults must not commit drug, alcohol, gambling or family violence offences; and
    
  • All adults must abide by conditions related to their tenancy in public housing.
    
• Establish a ‘Family Responsibilities Commission’ – chaired by a retired Magistrate and consisting of respected members of the Welfare Reform communities – to enforce and support the obligations, with four main options:
  
  • Issue a warning to the individual;
  • Direct individuals to attend support services;
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to conditional income management; or
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to another adult who is caring for the individual’s children.
• Reform CDEP to encourage people off welfare and into jobs, and create further opportunities for mobility and job creation.
• Introduce education initiatives focused on literacy at primary schools and supporting children to attend boarding schools at secondary level.
• Normalise tenancy arrangements and provide home ownership opportunities.

The future that the Institute envisages is one in which the people of Cape York Peninsula internalise a set of revitalised social norms, which mandate personal responsibility for work, education and the welfare of children, so that they become free from dependence on passive welfare and so that child neglect and abuse cease....

The reform concepts include:
• Welfare reform is a transition from dependency to economic development.
• Economic viability in remote communities is predicated on mobility, and viability is
fundamentally a question of choice for remote communities.
• The metaphor of the staircase: The foundations of progress are strong social norms. The supports underpinning the staircase are capabilities, which include for example health, education and political and economic freedoms. The third component of the metaphor is rationally aligned stairs, representing individual choice.
• Capabilities are the sum of opportunity plus responsibility.
• The metaphor of the welfare pedestal was developed by Cape York people to express the idea that incentives are skewed. The current set of incentives put many people on a pedestal below the staircase of opportunity; they first need to take a step down before the process of climbing the staircase can begin

• Attach four obligations to welfare payments, requiring that:
  
  • Each adult who receives welfare payments with respect to a child should be required to ensure that the child maintains a 100 percent attendance record;
    
  • All adults must not cause or allow children to be neglected or abused;
    
  • All adults must not commit drug, alcohol, gambling or family violence offences; and
    
  • All adults must abide by conditions related to their tenancy in public housing.
    
• Establish a ‘Family Responsibilities Commission’ – chaired by a retired Magistrate and consisting of respected members of the Welfare Reform communities – to enforce and support the obligations, with four main options:
  
  • Issue a warning to the individual;
  • Direct individuals to attend support services;
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to conditional income management; or
  • Determine that all or part of the welfare payments to which an individual is entitled should be redirected to another adult who is caring for the individual’s children.
• Reform CDEP to encourage people off welfare and into jobs, and create further opportunities for mobility and job creation.
• Introduce education initiatives focused on literacy at primary schools and supporting children to attend boarding schools at secondary level.
• Normalise tenancy arrangements and provide home ownership opportunities.