Subjects: Remote Australia Employment Service begins tomorrow, Environmental Protection Reform Bill
BRIDGET BRENNAN, HOST: The government is just about to announce and roll out its refreshed Remote Australia Employment program, which means there'll be more jobs available to Indigenous Australians in remote Australia, and the Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy joins us now from Canberra. Minister, this has been a long time coming and it will be exciting news for people in remote Australia who want to get into the workforce.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Absolutely, Bridget, good morning to you. Lovely to join you. I'm very excited. We have worked tremendously hard on this policy, even from Opposition, which is where we recognised how problematic the CDP was, and if we ever had the opportunity to get into government, which we have, we knew we would want to transform this program, and as of tomorrow, the 1st of November, this program kicks off across remote Australia.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: So, if you're someone in remote Australia, and there's just not very many job opportunities available, how will the program work for someone who wants to be in work, but there isn't any job advertisements in their community?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: So, this is the Remote Australia Employment Service or RAES is the acronym. It's about encouraging people into the workforce, working with them on areas that they wish to improve upon, but even more importantly, Bridget, this is about co-design, working with communities. The providers who've been appointed the contracts in 60 regions across Australia, now have the responsibility to work with communities in collaboration, to be able to see these opportunities come out. This is an exciting time. It's going to have bumps along the way, as all new programs that we're trying to roll out do, but I am quite excited about it. I urge providers and certainly communities to keep reaching out to me, where we can look at this, what's working, what's not, but this is quite significant for our country.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: So, one of the concerns around the Community Development Program was that there was a lack of equitable pay. How will people be paid under this new program?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: So, this is still part of the DSS in terms of welfare. So, those people who are receiving Centrelink payments, this is primarily aimed at them, to be able to give them the support that's required to get them either into full-time or part-time work, off the welfare payments, or else assisting them through that process, but done in a way that's done with respect and a lot more dignity.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: What about in terms of the quality of work? Because that used to be another concern, that these were sort of pointless jobs, people felt disempowered doing them. There's a lot of need for additional infrastructure and investment in remote Australia. Could these jobs be used to really improve services and structures in remote communities?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: What I've been doing in the last 12 months to two years is working on the remote jobs area. So, we've actually been rolling out jobs as part of the 3,000 jobs program and that is complementing the RAES program where we're trying to get people off welfare onto these. So, it's working in unison with that. It's quite important to recognise that of the 3,000 jobs that we've been trying to roll out across these places, we've got about 1,700 in place now. We've seen communities really take this on and so we want to see more come onto the program. So, RAES is about getting people job ready, but making sure we're doing it in a way that they can also say what they need. So, for example, out at Galiwin’ku in Far North East Arnhem Land, the community there said that if workers are coming in and building houses, then let's make sure we can do the lunches, the dinners, and actually have a contract set up for cooking in the kitchen and making sure there's food, and then you can have more people come onto island and build more houses. So, it's going to be tailored directly to what needs to happen in local communities, so they can determine how these jobs roll out in conjunction with the providers.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Oh that's interesting. Now, three Aboriginal councils in the NT seem to be frustrated that they missed out on funding as part of the program, they're saying that they may not actually lease some of the facilities that are critical to this work. What has happened here, Minister?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: There are around nearly 200 providers who applied for these jobs to be able to provide this work in communities, Bridget, and we only have 60 regions. So, there were going to be people who were unhappy, and some people who were happy. I suppose that's the most simplest way, they're open bids, they're open grants that people have applied for. So, in regards to the three councils in the Northern Territory, I have met with them. We are having ongoing conversations. Of the three councils, one of them actually has been successful in receiving the RAES grant or the program to provide that out in the Borroloola and Robinson River region. The other two, we will continue to work with them.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Let's talk about the environment laws up for debate in Parliament this week, a very big issue. We've heard from some of the major Aboriginal land councils in the Northern Territory concerned that they weren't properly consulted over the rewrite of the laws. Are you concerned that they feel like they've been left out? Is there scope for ongoing discussions with land councils about this?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Yes, I'm aware that the Central Land Council has spoken out in regards to this, and I just encourage the Central Land Council and the other three councils as well, land councils of the Northern Territory to continue to engage with Minister Watt. I think we've heard Minister Watt on the radio and media this week, saying that neither sides are happy with him. He sort of has to deal with everyone. I just certainly encourage the Aboriginal land councils to certainly keep engaging with Minister Watt. There is room and scope for amendments in terms of this legislation and there's still a little bit of a way to go and I'll certainly be reaching out to them to do that.
BRIDGET BRENNAN: Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, thanks very much for your time on the show this morning.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Thank you.