In remote Australia, work is more than a wage.
It’s about dignity, purpose and pride.
It’s also about connection to community, culture, and Country. And when employment services reflect that, the results speak for themselves.
I’ve sat and listened to people in remote communities across the country, share their hopes about their future. I’ve also heard from employment service providers who’ve been doing the hard work for years.
What they told me is clear, the Community Development Program, or CDP, wasn’t working.
The failures of CDP are well documented and well-known.
What remote communities want is opportunity, meaningful training and support, and real jobs, delivering benefits for families and communities.
Our new Remote Australia Employment Service (RAES), which begins today (Saturday 1 November), will deliver that. It also delivers on the Albanese Labor Government’s promise to abolish the CDP.
RAES is designed to help job seekers get job-ready through skills development and training, move into a job when available and stay employed, with greater access to mentoring and tailored support.
RAES providers will also work collaboratively with remote communities, co-designing projects that help build skills and reflect local priorities and aspirations.
The shift, from compliance to empowerment is already making a difference, as seen in the community project trials which informed the design of RAES.
In Galiwin’ku in East Arnhem Land, the Miyalk Kitchen is more than a workplace, it’s a place of pride.
With support from the Arnhem Land Progress Association, 28 local Yolngu people prepare meals for the local community and contractors.
What started as a lunch service has grown into a thriving business providing affordable, healthy, high quality dinner options for the local community. The kitchen is building skills, boosting confidence and creating pathways to long term employment.
And it’s having a ripple effect.
Construction companies are taking advantage of the availability of these meals, meaning they can have more staff on the island for longer, leading to quicker build times on housing projects, which benefits the community.
In the APY Lands, the Regional Anangu Services Aboriginal Corporation is supporting job seekers to take their first steps into the workforce.
Their paid work experience trial focuses on engagement and job readiness, providing training and personalised case management to help people secure essential documents like identification, licences, and work tickets.
Importantly, these practical supports are helping people build confidence and prepare for long-term employment.
Our government’s trials have helped job seekers get runs on the board, demonstrating to employers they’ve made the first important steps into workforce participation.
So far, up to 150 people in the APY Lands have been involved, with more to come.
These local successes aren’t isolated.
The strengths based, community focused approach and design of RAES has been tested and proven to work through job trials with over 18,000 remote job seekers gaining access to paid work experience, mentoring and training incentives and 3,000 people supported into job placements.
They’re part of a growing movement across remote Australia, where employment services are working with communities, not just in them.
And that movement will only grow through RAES.
Data shows we are on track to meet Closing the Gap target 8 on economic participation.
While encouraging, we know there’s more to do to close the gap in remote employment.
Our government is committed to the economic empowerment of remote communities.
Whether that’s through RAES or our Remote Jobs and Economic Development (RJED) Program, which is creating up to 3,000 jobs in remote communities.
Jobs that empower communities and honour their strengths.
We are committed to listening to remote communities and working in genuine partnership to create jobs that are needed and wanted.
Since RJED began, there have been around 1,700 new jobs approved for funding in thin labour markets across remote Australia.
These are jobs remote communities want and need, roles across health, education, tourism, land management, and cultural services.
And they are jobs supported by local employers, who understand the value of investing in their own people.
Remote Australia has always had talent, resilience and drive.
We’re determined to work with remote communities to turn that potential into self-determination.