The compulsory Community Development Program unfairly targets Indigenous people and is definitely discriminatory, Sally McManus, the recently appointed secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, made the comments at the Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land on Sunday. In a speech she said the compulsory Community Development Program (CDP), which required participants to do 25 hours of “work-like activity” a week for welfare payments at a rate of about $10 an hour, unfairly targeted Indigenous people and was a “stark reminder” of the continuing existence of structural racism.
“People are working, some of them in jobs they were once paid award wages for and often for for-profit companies. The employers are getting CDP workers for free.”
She earlier told Guardian Australia it was already “definitely discriminatory” because it applied only to people in rural and remote areas.
“It has caused pain and indeed hunger,” he said. “They should be in a work-like situation, not imprisoned in a [system] of immense complexity which is causing immense hardship through breaching.”
In his speech, opposition leader Bill Shorten said Indigenous people didn’t need “a ‘Balanda’ lecture about the difficulty of changing the constitution”.
Shorten said Labor fully supported the recommendations for a constitutionally enshrined voice, for a Makarrata – a truth telling process – and for treaties.
He said people should look to the 1967 referendum as an inspiration, not the 1999 one as a warning. “There’s no reason why that can’t be done by the end of this year, the issues have been traversed for a decade.”
“We have had 10 years plus of good intentions, it is now time perhaps for more action.”
“People are working, some of them in jobs they were once paid award wages for and often for for-profit companies. The employers are getting CDP workers for free.”
She earlier told Guardian Australia it was already “definitely discriminatory” because it applied only to people in rural and remote areas.
- “How can it be that some people in Australia have to work 52 weeks a year, $10 an hour, and then other people who aren’t in rural and remote areas don’t?” she said.
- “And then out of the people in the program, 85% are Indigenous. Does it need to be 100% before we say it’s racist? It’s pretty clear as far as I’m concerned that it applies to some people and not others and it’s massively impacting on Indigenous people more than other people. I think if people in urban areas and cities knew this was happening they’d be outraged. But they don’t because it’s remote Australia.”
- McManus said the compulsory work was in areas with the highest unemployment.
- “Are you really saying to those people you’ve got to leave your land, leave your country, is that what it’s really about?”
“It has caused pain and indeed hunger,” he said. “They should be in a work-like situation, not imprisoned in a [system] of immense complexity which is causing immense hardship through breaching.”
In his speech, opposition leader Bill Shorten said Indigenous people didn’t need “a ‘Balanda’ lecture about the difficulty of changing the constitution”.
Shorten said Labor fully supported the recommendations for a constitutionally enshrined voice, for a Makarrata – a truth telling process – and for treaties.
He said people should look to the 1967 referendum as an inspiration, not the 1999 one as a warning. “There’s no reason why that can’t be done by the end of this year, the issues have been traversed for a decade.”
“We have had 10 years plus of good intentions, it is now time perhaps for more action.”
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