Community Development Employment Program

The federal government has flagged the abolition of the Community Development Employment Program, the 'work for the dole' indigenous employment program, in regions where unemployment is below 7%. There is little attention to the existence of substantial discrimination against indigenous job seekers, even when education is taken into account. An analysis of the 2001 census data by Boyd Hunter: Indigenous Australians in the Contemporary Labour Market revealed this. He argues that the key to entering the mainstream labour market is education and an effective response to the discrimination problem. The later is not adequately addressed by the individual complaints focus of current anti-discrimination legislation. The problem with CDEP is that it may act as a disincentive to education.