The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) was an initiative by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

for the employment of

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

It provided a flexible basic income support. One way in which the CDEP funds, along with those of another federal government program, the Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP), were deployed was via the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (1990–2005) was the Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting thei ...

(ATSIC) to outstations (tiny, remote communities, also known as homelands) across the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, until ATSIC was dismantled by the

Howard government The Howard government refers to the Government of Australia, federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard between 11 March 1996 and 3 December 2007. It was made up of members of the Liberal Party of Australia, Li ...

in 2004. Then CDEP was transferred to the

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (2001–2007) The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (also called DEWR) was an Australian government department that existed between November 2001 and December 2007. Scope Information about the department's functions and government fu ...

, which made it much harder to access by outstation residents. On 23 July 2007, during the

Northern Territory National Emergency Response The Northern Territory National Emergency Response, also known as "The Intervention" or the Northern Territory Intervention, and sometimes the abbreviation "NTER" (for Northern Territory Emergency Response) was a package of measures enforced by ...

("the Intervention"), the Howard government announced the abolition of the CDEP scheme in the

. The scheme had an estimated 7,500 participants. The Government planned to progressively abolish projects in urban areas of Australia by July 2009, and in remote areas by July 2011. In July 2009, CDEP was replaced with

Job Services Australia Workforce Australia is an Government of Australia, Australian Government-funded network of organisations (private and community, and originally also government) that are contracted by the Australian Government, through the Department of Employ ...

in regions with “established economies”. In remote areas, new participants were redirected to income support direct from

Centrelink The Centrelink Master Program, or more commonly known as Centrelink, is a Services Australia master program of the Australian Government. It delivers a range of government payments and services for retirees, the unemployed, families, carer ...

. In the homelands, it was replaced with the Community Development Program, a work-for-the-dole scheme, requiring unemployed people to work five hours a day, five days a week in supervised work or training.

References

{{Authority control Welfare in Australia Public policy in Australia Employment in Australia Indigenous Australian society