Community Development Employment Projects facts for kids
The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) was a special program started by the Australian Government. Its main goal was to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people find jobs and earn money. It offered a flexible way for people to get basic income support, which means they could earn money while also doing important work in their communities.
What Was CDEP?
The CDEP program was designed to give people a chance to work on projects that benefited their own communities. Instead of just receiving unemployment benefits, participants could work part-time or full-time on local projects. This could include things like looking after land, building houses, or helping with community services. It was a way to support people while also developing their local areas.
How CDEP Worked
For many years, CDEP funds were managed by an organization called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). ATSIC helped send money to small, remote communities, often called outstations or homelands, especially in the Northern Territory. These outstations are tiny communities far away from big towns. The CDEP program helped people in these remote places to work and support themselves.
Changes to the Program
In 2004, the Australian Government, led by the Howard government, made a big change. ATSIC was closed down. After this, the CDEP program was moved to a different government department. This made it much harder for people living in remote outstations to access the program and get support.
When CDEP Ended
On 23 July 2007, during a time known as the Northern Territory National Emergency Response (also called "the Intervention"), the Howard government announced that the CDEP program would be stopped in the Northern Territory. At that time, about 7,500 people were part of the program. The government planned to gradually end CDEP across Australia: in cities by July 2009, and in remote areas by July 2011.
What Replaced CDEP?
By July 2009, in areas with more developed economies, CDEP was replaced by a new system called Job Services Australia. In very remote areas, people who were looking for work started getting income support directly from Centrelink, which is the government agency that handles social security payments.
In the remote homelands, CDEP was replaced by the Community Development Program. This new program was a type of work-for-the-dole scheme. This meant that unemployed people had to work five hours a day, five days a week, in supervised jobs or training programs to receive their payments.
