The 23-year path that CDEP has travelled down has been a long and hard one. Today the objective of the CDEP program, as defined in the Spicer Review and adopted by ATSIC is:
To provide work for unemployed [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander] persons in community managed activities which assist the individual in acquiring skills which benefit the community develop business enterprises and/or lead to unsubsidised employment (Spicer 1997).
Most CDEP organisations would accept this as the CDEP objective. However, other stakeholders have other objectives which place high expectations and demands on CDEP organisations:
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Centrelink uses CDEP as their unpaid agent to manage the unemployed in locations where others cannot;
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the Federal government sees CDEP as an opportunity to remove 33 000 people from the unemployment figures;
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DEWRSB views CDEP as an avenue to get employment outcomes at a far cheaper rate than from other contractors;
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ATSIC sees CDEP as a way of supporting other community based programs and funded positions that cannot be funded to needed levels;
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business projects see CDEP as a source of subsidised wages where no other avenue exists;
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Job Network agencies use CDEP as a place to park long-term unemployed Aboriginal and Islander people because their success with Intensive Assistance clients is limited;
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State governments (not all) view CDEP as a way to get out of the establishment of expensive community infrastructure and services program in isolated communities;
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local government gains cheap community services and a cheap labour pool.
The list could go on, but it is already sufficient to make clear that other stakeholders make great demands on CDEP and often enlist the support of ATSIC Grant Conditions to do so.
CDEP is a bit like the milking cow that is relied on to deliver nourishment. Initially in the early days of CDEP the cow was fat—it was well fed with only a small number of supply points.
Then as time went by the ‘food supply’ for the cow was depleted because of the drying up of government funding in other areas that enhanced or supported the CDEP program. However the demand for milk is now far greater. So the cow is now not only badly fed, but has many supply points.>- 195 -
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