Remote Australia Online

The Anthropocene is generating new demands on societies to learn how to establish flexible and resilient socio-ecosystems. The proposed new epoch, driven in large part by human actions, enhances the need for new knowledge on how modernity could respond effectively to environmental extremes and change. New knowledge can be drawn from various sources, but one vital approach will be to learn from the wealth of ancient, traditional forms of cultural adaptation in societal margins, where people have interacted sustainably with difficult environments throughout the Holocene. To achieve that goal, adaptation research with the Anangu of the Alinytjara Wilurara region in South Australia is critically reviewed through the lens of socio-ecological theory. Complex, interactive local biophysical, cultural and political ecologies must be negotiated to learn to adapt to environmental extremes and change. A social learning approach successfully integrated local Indigenous and external knowledge to identify biophysical vulnerabilities, and generated risk narratives that are helping to guide spatial and systemic adaptation planning on heatwave, wildfire and bushfood management. Yet, political ecologies continue to inhibit support for Indigenous stewardship of local environments. Institutional investment into the knowledge and management activities of Indigenous people could generate sustainable development opportunities, while also providing universal lessons about stewarding local environments through periods of change.

Background: Rural residents have poorer oral health and more limited access to dental services than their city counterparts. In rural communities, health care professionals often work in an extended capacity due to the needs of the community and health workforce shortages in these areas. Improved links and greater collaboration between resident rural primary care and dental practitioners could help improve oral health service provision such that interventions are both timely, effective and lead to appropriate follow-up and referral. This study examined the impact oral health problems had on primary health care providers; how primary care networks could be more effectively utilised to improve the provision of oral health services to rural communities; and identified strategies that could be implemented to improve oral health. Methods: Case studies of 14 rural communities across three Australian states. Between 2013 and 2016, 105 primary and 12 dental care providers were recruited and interviewed. Qualitative data were analysed in Nvivo 10 using thematic analysis. Quantitative data were subject to descriptive analysis using SPSSv20. Results: Rural residents presented to primary care providers with a range of oral health problems from “everyday” to “10 per month”. Management by primary care providers commonly included short-term pain relief, antibiotics, and advice that the patient see a dentist. The communication between non-dental primary care providers and visiting or regional dental practitioners was limited. Participants described a range of strategies that could contribute to better oral health and oral health oral services in their communities. Conclusions: Rural oral health could be improved by building oral health capacity of non-dental care providers; investing in oral health promotion and prevention activities; introducing more flexible service delivery practices to meet the dental needs of both public and private patients; and establishing more effective communication and referral pathways between rural primary and visiting/regional dental care providers.

Objective: To identify the level of public support for a Human Rights Act for Queensland (HRAQ) and for inclusion of the right to health by participants in a public inquiry process. Methods: We reviewed the 492 written submissions to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee's Inquiry into a potential HRAQ and the transcripts documenting the public hearings held by the Committee in 2016. Results: A total of 465 written submissions were analysed; 419 (90%) were for a HRAQ. More than 80% of the ‘for’ submissions advocated the right to health's inclusion. At the seven public hearings, 72 persons made verbal submissions and most supported a HRAQ. Five major themes were identified in our synthesis of the public hearing transcripts. Three related specifically to health and human rights: 1) the need to consider the holistic health and human rights of Indigenous Queenslanders and Indigenous Queensland communities; 2) instilling a human rights culture in Queensland; and 3) access to health care and the underlying determinants of health. The other two themes related to the conduct of the Inquiry: 4) the importance of community participation in developing a HRAQ; and 5) concerns about the public consultation processes. Conclusion: This study found strong support in the majority of submissions for the Queensland Parliament to draft and enact a HRAQ, and for the inclusion of the right to health in such legislation. Implications for public health: The Queensland Parliament's enactment of a HRAQ that expressly included the right to health would increase the accountability and transparency of government health (and related) decision making and resource allocation, and would better identify and address health inequities across the state. This Act is imperative for improving the health and wellbeing of all Queenslanders, particularly rural and remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

Camel management in Australia is a complicated issue. This is not only because of a lack of available information on camels themselves including population, movements, biology, and impacts, but also due to the economic, social, cultural, and legislative/regulatory aspects of camel management. In order to assess the legislative/regulatory aspects of camel management, in February 2007 the Desert Knowledge CRC (DKCRC) sought expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced individuals, firms, consortia, NGOs, and research centres to ‘review legislation and regulations about feral camel management in Australia’. The responsibilities, as outlined in the Terms of Reference for the intended work, were as follows: 1 – Prepare a detailed timeline and outline of the review report, to be approved by DKCRC Camel Project Steering Committee prior to signing a contract 2 – Write a review report. The report will be approximately 25–30 pages (or 10 000 to 15 000 words) in length and should include a review of the current legislation, regulations, and policies at both federal and state/territory levels relating to consumptive and non-consumptive management approaches to feral camel management. The review will include current legislative documentation on feral animals, and will be particularly focused on feral camels, Aboriginal land management, firearm management, pet meat, game meat, international animal trading (live export, meat export), animal welfare, movement including transportation, and other related documentation. 3 – The review should highlight similarities and differences between the relevant jurisdictions – Commonwealth, Queensland (Qld), New South Wales (NSW), South Australia (SA), Western Australia (WA), and the Northern Territory (NT) governments – and identify the changes that would be required for future cross-jurisdictional cooperative actions. 4 – Create a database that includes the outlined information with hyperlinks to the full text of all documents reviewed.

Background: Favourable impacts are reported from complex alcohol control strategies, known as ?Alcohol Management Plans? (AMPs) implemented 14 years ago in 19 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) communities in Queensland (Australia). However, it is not clear that all communities benefited and that positive impacts were sustained. Service providers, key stakeholders and community leaders provided insights about issues and impacts. Methods: Participants (N = 382) were recruited from knowledgeable and experienced persons using agency lists and by recommendation across sectors which have a mandate for managing alcohol-related issues and consequences of AMP policies in communities. In semi-structured interviews, participants (51% Indigenous, 55% male and comprised of at least one-third local community residents) were asked whether they believed alcohol controls had been effective and to describe any favourable and unfavourable outcomes experienced or perceived. Inductive techniques were used for thematic analysis of the content of transcribed recorded interviews. Comments reflecting themes were assessed across service sectors, by gender, Indigenous status and remoteness. Results: Participants attributed reduced violence and improved community amenity to AMPs, particularly for ‘very remote’ communities. Participants’ information suggests that these important achievements happened abruptly but may have become undermined over time by: the availability of illicit alcohol and an urgency to consume it; migration to larger centres to seek alcohol; criminalization; substitution of illicit drugs for alcohol; changed drinking behaviours and discrimination. Most issues were more frequently linked with ‘very remote’ communities. Conclusion: Alcohol restrictions in Queensland's Indigenous communities may have brought favourable changes, a significant achievement after a long period of poorly regulated alcohol availability from the 1980s up to 2002. Subsequently, over the past decade, an urgency to access and consume illicit alcohol appears to have emerged. It is not clear that relaxing restrictions would reverse the harmful impacts of AMPs without significant demand reduction, treatment and diversion efforts.

Indigenous people in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States often face extensive social and economic hardship despite living in some of the world’s wealthiest nations. Unlike the case in international contexts, the Australian Government is unique in using the quarantining of welfare benefits as a key strategy in closing the gap in Indigenous outcomes. This approach –known as income management –sets aside 50 percent of welfare benefits to ensure that they are spent on priority items (food, housing, clothing, utilities, or transport) and not on excluded items (alcohol, cigarettes, gambling or pornography). The goal is to direct welfare payments towards essential needs; reduce the funds available for anti-social behaviors linked to child abuse and family dysfunction; protect women and the elderly from excessive demands for money; and improve the care of children. Income management, however, has been controversial with critics arguing that it is paternalistic and proponents arguing that it benefits Aboriginal communities. To date, what is known about Australia’s income management policy comes from qualitative evidence which can at best be described as mixed. Evidence based on sound policy evaluation methods is currently lacking. In this paper, we provide the first causal evidence linking income management to a key policy target – children’s school attendance. By constraining people’s spending choices, income management is meant to increase the chances that children’s basic needs are being met, resulting in higher school engagement and greater educational attainment. In contrast to the policy’s objectives, we find no evidence that school attendance increased after the introduction of income management. In fact, we estimate that attendance fell by 2.7 percentage points on average in the short-run. Importantly, income management did not significantly affect student enrollments or mobility patterns into and out of Aboriginal communities; thus, the drop in school attendance does not appear to be due to increased churning in student enrollments or new students. Nor is it due to concurrent policy initiatives. Instead we find that the attendance penalty associated with the introduction of income management is dramatically reduced after the adoption of more flexible administrative arrangements, suggesting that implementation issues may be responsible for the temporary reduction in school attendance that we observe. We argue that the way that income management was implemented may have resulted in income insecurity, barriers to day-to-day economic activity, and a loss of empowerment which may have led to increased family stress and had adverse consequences for parenting. Our results therefore suggest that policy makers should pay careful attention to the erosion of social capital when implementing new programs. This is particularly true in Aboriginal communities where attempts to reduce disadvantage through increased social mobility may put social and cultural capital at risk.

Minmaku Palyantja Palya: Value Women's Good Work was a collaborative project between Women in Adult and Vocational Education (WAVE) and Waltja Tjutangku Palya Aboriginal Corporation (Waltja). Waltja is an incorporated not-for-profit community organisation governed by senior Aboriginal women from remote communities across Central Australia. In these communities, and working with and through Waltja, women play a highly significant role in identification of training needs, advocacy for their communities, and facilitation of education and training. The main focus of this project has been the recognition, acknowledgement and promotion of senior Aboriginal women who have been instrumental in the development of children's services and youth programs on their remote communities in Central Australia. The project also sought to build relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women, along with continued good working relationships, from the two organisations involved - WAVE and Waltja. This set of resources comprises two conference presentations, a speech and a peer reviewed journal article.

The Remote School Attendance Strategy (RSAS) is designed to lift school attendance levels in selected remote communities through employment of local School Attendance Supervisors (SAS) and School Attendance Officers (SAO) who work with schools, families, and children to ensure they go to school every possible day. RSAS was rolled out in two stages. Stage one commenced in term one of 2014 and included students from 44 schools in five jurisdictions – Northern Territory (NT), Queensland (QLD), Western Australia, (WA), New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia (SA). Stage two commenced in term two of 2014 including students from a further 33 schools in the five jurisdictions. This report predominately assesses the impact of RSAS on stage one schools. These remote communities were targeted because their schools have had low school attendance rates over recent years. Funding for stages one and two of the Strategy is $46.5 million over two calendar years, covering January 2014 to 31 December 2015. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) receives and analyses school attendance data for the RSAS schools every week and regularly monitors RSAS performance. Once the first year of information was available, two additional evaluation activities were undertaken, based on complementary evaluative methods: Quantitative data analysis analysing weekly school attendance data comparing the first year of trend data with the previous year, based on equivalent periods in 2013 and 2014. Information and Evaluation Branch, PM&C conducted this analysis in collaboration with jurisdictional education departments; and Thematic coding of qualitative data collected in Traffic Light Reports (TLR) for all stage one schools, and matching the qualitative data with quantitative attendance data to analyse the reasons for changes in attendance on a week-by-week basis. This independent analysis was conducted by O’Brien Rich Research Group between January and March 2015.

Introduction Research with Indigenous populations is not always designed with cultural sensitivity. Few publications evaluate or describe in detail seeking consent for research with Indigenous participants. When potential participants are not engaged in a culturally respectful manner, participation rates and research quality can be adversely affected. It is unethical to proceed with research without truly informed consent.Methods and analysis We describe a culturally appropriate research protocol that is invited by Aboriginal communities of the Fitzroy Valley in Western Australia. The Picture Talk Project is a research partnership with local Aboriginal leaders who are also chief investigators. We will interview Aboriginal leaders about research, community engagement and the consent process and hold focus groups with Aboriginal community members about individual consent. Cultural protocols will be applied to recruit and conduct research with participants. Transcripts will be analysed using NVivo10 qualitative software and themes synthesised to highlight the key issues raised by the community about the research process. This protocol will guide future research with the Aboriginal communities of the Fitzroy Valley and may inform the approach to research with other Indigenous communities of Australia or the world. It must be noted that no community is the same and all research requires local consultation and input. To conduct culturally sensitive research, respected local people from the community who have knowledge of cultural protocol and language are engaged to guide each step of the research process from the project design to the delivery of results.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was granted by the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (No. 2012/348, reference:14760), the Western Australia Country Health Service Ethics Committee (No. 2012:15), the Western Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committee and reviewed by the Kimberley Aboriginal Health Planning Forum Research Sub-Committee (No. 2012–008). Results will be disseminated through peer review articles, a local Fitzroy Valley report and conference presentations.

High-quality oncology care in rural Australia requires ongoing government commitment. One in two men and one in three women in Australia will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime, with malignant disease accounting for 30% of all deaths.1 Over the past 30 years, cancer incidence has increased by 27%, during which time 5-year survival has improved from 47% to 66%.2

Study objective: To examine the role of specialist outreach in supporting primary health care and overcoming the barriers to health care faced by the indigenous population in remote areas of Australia, and to examine issues affecting its sustainability. Design: A process evaluation of a specialist outreach service, using health service utilisation data and interviews with health professionals and patients. Setting: The Top End of Australia's Northern Territory, where Darwin is the capital city and the major base for hospital and specialist services. In the rural and remote areas outside Darwin there are many small, predominantly indigenous communities, which are greatly disadvantaged by a severe burden of disease and limited access to medical care. Participants: Seventeen remote health practitioners, five specialists undertaking outreach, five regional health administrators, and three patients from remote communities. Main results: The barriers faced by many remote indigenous people in accessing specialist and hospital care are substantial. Outreach delivery of specialist services has overcome some of the barriers relating to distance, communication, and cultural inappropriateness of services and has enabled an over fourfold increase in the number of consultations with people from remote communities. Key issues affecting sustainability include: an adequate specialist base; an unmet demand from primary care; integration with, accountability to and capacity building for a multidisciplinary framework centred in primary care; good communication; visits that are regular and predictable; funding and coordination that recognises responsibilities to both hospitals and the primary care sector; and regular evaluation. Conclusions: In a setting where there is a disadvantaged population with inadequate access to medical care, specialist outreach from a regional centre can provide a more equitable means of service delivery than hospital based services alone. A sustainable outreach service that is organised appropriately, responsive to local community needs, and has an adequate regional specialist base can effectively integrate with and support primary health care processes. Poorly planned and conducted outreach, however, can draw resources away and detract from primary health care.

Factors contributing to educational outcomes for Indigenous students from remote communities: A systematic review

Schools classified as very remote – and where either Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students make up most of the school population – face several challenges. The Remote Education Systems project brief was focused on schools in places classified as 'Very Remote Australia' by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Bullying and anti-social behaviours at school are national and international issues with between one-sixth to half of all students in Australia experiencing bullying at school. In central Australian Aboriginal English, the term 'teasing' is used to cover the senses of both 'teasing' and 'bullying' in Standard Australian English. Strong families are the foundation on which educational advantage can be achieved for remote students. 'MindMatters' is an example of a resilience building programme introduced to remote schools in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Parents, community members, and school staff generally want school to be a safe place for children to learn and socialise together.

This discussion paper highlights key educational challenges and issues that impact on the learning outcomes of regional, rural and remote students. It aims to create a springboard for fresh ideas to improve outcomes for these students. The independent reviewer has prepared the discussion paper based on an extensive literature review. The paper outlines nine themes that impact significantly on student learning outcomes: (1) curriculum and assessment; (2) teachers and teaching; (3) leaders and leadership; (4) school and community; (5) information and communication technology; (6) entrepreneurship and schools; (7) improving access - enrolments, clusters, distance education and boarding; (8) diversity; and (9) transitioning beyond school. Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

This paper describes a pre-employment program that combined vocational education and training (VET), a structured mentoring program, and guaranteed employment for local Aboriginal people. The result of this collaboration was a series of eight pre-employment programs that achieved sustainable employment for 200 Aboriginal people and had the effect of changing workplace culture at a mining and resources company in remote South Australia, namely, OZ Minerals. This program is an example of collaborative best practice to achieve sustainable outcomes for Aboriginal people. The development of the VET program was undertaken in consultation with the employer to ensure that the accredited training met their needs. Published abstract.

This chapter takes a labour market perspective, gathering available statistical evidence and speculating on some possible outcomes of the closure of the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme. It also introduces a general statistical context for the more localised analysis in the case studies [indexed from TD/TNC 125.855 to TD/TNC 125.858]. The author reminds readers of evidence that CDEP participants in receipt of wages had significantly better socioeconomic outcomes than the unemployed on a range of measures. To that extent, CDEP was evidently 'better than welfare'. Edited excerpt from publication.

Indigenous people of northern Australia make extensive use of wild resources as a source of food, in their art and craft, and for medicinal purposes. These resources are part of a socially and culturally significant landscape. Using data collected from household surveys across two catchments in northern Australia, the Daly River, Northern Territory (NT) and the Fitzroy River, Western Australia (WA), we describe indigenous aquatic resource use patterns. The former is a perennial system with extensive vegetated wetlands that can remain inundated for 4–5 months, while the latter can cease to flow during the winter dry season (May–October) and its floods usually last for weeks. Subsistence strategies depend on seasonal availability of a wide array of aquatic species and are attuned to the life histories and movement patterns of key species, such as Long-necked Turtle (Chelodina rugosa) and Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata). Indigenous households harvested resources from different habitats. Our results show a clear progression from use of the main river channel shortly after the wet season to use of billabongs late in the dry season in the Daly River, and a constant reliance on the main river channel and tributaries in the Fitzroy River. Difference in the main species utilised appears strongly related to habitat use, with four of the five most commonly harvested in the Daly catchment being non-fish species associated with billabong habitats. Commonly harvested species from the Fitzroy catchment included small bodied species used as bait and two popular food species, Black Bream (Hephaestus jenkinsi) and Catfish (Neoarius spp.). Results suggest that indigenous subsistence strategies are vulnerable to changes in the natural systems that provide the “ecosystem goods,” particularly annual inundation of floodplains that drives productivity and provides habitat for some key species. Water resource developments, such as river regulation and increased abstraction for irrigated agriculture, could adversely affect a highly valued customary component of the indigenous economies of tropical Australia.

Background: Children in remote Indigenous communities in Australia have levels of dental caries much greater than the national average. One such, the Northern Peninsula Area of Far North Queensland (NPA), had an oral health survey conducted in 2004, shortly before the introduction of fluoridated, reticular water. Children were again surveyed in 2012, following five years exposure. Methods: An oral examination was conducted on all consenting children enrolled in schools across the community, using WHO Basic Oral Health Survey methodology. Results: Few teeth had restorations in both surveys. Age-weighted overall caries prevalence and severity declined from 2005 to 2012 by 37.3%. The effect was most marked in younger children, dmft decreasing by approximately 50% for ages 4–9 years; at age 6, mean decayed score decreased from 5.20 to 3.43. DMFT levels also decreased by almost half in 6–9 year olds. However, significant unmet treatment needs exist at all ages. Conclusions: There has been considerable improvement in child dental health in the NPA over the past 6–7 years. In light of continued poor diet and oral hygiene, water fluoridation is the most likely explanation. The cost-effectiveness for this small community remains an issue which, in the current climate of political antagonism to water fluoridation in many quarters, requires continued study.

There are well-established training programmes available to support health and human services professionals working with people vulnerable to suicide. However, little is known about involving people with lived experience in the delivery of suicide prevention training with communities with increased rates of suicide. The aim of this paper was to report on a formative dialogical evaluation that explored the views of health and human services workers with regard to a suicide prevention training programme in regional (including rural and remote areas) South Australia which included meaningful involvement of a person with lived experience in the development and delivery of the training. In 2015, eight suicide prevention training workshops were conducted with health and human services workers. All 248 participants lived and worked in South Australian regional communities. We interviewed a subsample of 24 participants across eight sites. A thematic analysis of the interviews identified five themes: Coproduction is key, It is okay to ask the question, Caring for my community, I can make a difference and Learning for future training. The overall meta-theme was “Involvement of a person with lived experience in suicide prevention training supports regional communities to look out for people at risk of suicide.” This paper highlights the need for suicide prevention training and other workforce development programmes to include lived experience participation as a core component in development and delivery.

This report presents the results of a first stage assessment of the impacts of recent changes to the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands [in remote north-west South Australia]. It draws on interviews and discussions with 15 Anangu (Aboriginal) people from the APY Lands as well as staff from Bungala Aboriginal Corporation and other relevant agencies. It also utilises available administrative and census data. As a first stage assessment the aim is to develop the foundation for further research throughout 2012 and 2013. This preliminary analysis concludes that although some of the measures introduced in July 2009 have had positive impacts, the changes to the scheme itself are tending to undermine the productive capacity of CDEP and induce a return to 'sit down money'. This is ostensibly what the government seeks to curtail and indeed what the CDEP scheme itself was designed to minimise. There may be a need for additional policy intervention to ensure that further changes to the scheme scheduled for 2012 do not exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, the multiple disadvantages experienced by many Anangu on the APY Lands. Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

The end of the very long-standing Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme in 2015 marked a critical juncture in Australian Indigenous policy history. For more than 30 years, CDEP had been among the biggest and most influential programs in the Indigenous affairs portfolio, employing many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. More recently, it had also become a focus of intense political contestation that culminated in its ultimate demise. This book examines the consequences of its closure for Indigenous people, communities and organisations. The end of CDEP is first situated in its broader historical and political context: the debates over notions of 'self-determination' versus 'mainstreaming' and the enduring influence of concerns about 'passive welfare' and 'mutual obligation'. In this way, the focus on CDEP highlights more general trends in Indigenous policymaking, and questions whether the dominant government approach is on the right track. Each chapter takes a different disciplinary approach to this question, variously focusing on the consequences of change for community and economic development, individual work habits and employment outcomes, and institutional capacity within the Indigenous sector. Across the case studies examined, the chapters suggest that the end of CDEP has heralded the emergence of a greater reliance on welfare rather than the increased employment outcomes the government had anticipated. Concluding that CDEP was 'better than welfare' in many ways, the book offers encouragement to policymakers to ensure that future reforms generate livelihood options for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians that are, in turn, better than CDEP. Published abstract. The chapters are: From welfare to work, or work to welfare? / Kirrily Jordan and Jon Altman; Reframed as welfare: CDEP's fall from favour / Will Sanders; Some statistical context for analysis of CDEP / Boyd Hunter; Just a jobs program?: CDEP employment and community development on the NSW far south coast / Kirrily Jordan; Looking for 'real jobs' on the APY Lands: intermittent and steady employment in CDEP and other paid work / Kirrily Jordan; Work habits and localised authority in Anmatjere CDEPs: losing good practice through policy and program review / Will Sanders; Bawinanga and CDEP: the vibrant life, and near death, of a major Aboriginal corporation in Arnhem Land / Jon Altman; Appendix 1: Annotated timeline of key developments / Bree Blakeman; Appendix 2: Annotated bibliography of author publications on CDEP 2005-15 / Bree Blakeman.

This chapter focuses on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the remote far north of South Australia. The author briefly touches on evidence that the move away from Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) wages to income support payments has been associated with decreased engagement in productive activity on the APY Lands - a similar scenario to the far south coast of NSW and the very opposite of what governments set out to achieve at least discursively. The author explores why the dominant approach might have failed, and attempts to distil insights for future policy directions. Edited excerpts from publication.

One of the most pressing and enduring concerns in Australian Indigenous policymaking is the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It has often been at the top of successive governments' Indigenous affairs agendas and, since 2008, 'closing the gap' in employment rates between Indigenous and other Australians has been a specific policy goal. Yet the employment disparity is growing, not declining. What has been going wrong? This introductory chapter provides a historical overview of policy approaches to reduce disparities in the labour market situation of Indigenous and settler Australians, focusing on the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme. Edited excerpts with additional information from publication.

The Community Development Programme (CDP) is a remote-area Work for the Dole scheme that principally affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The program is billed by the government as 'helping people find work, and allowing them to contribute to their communities and gain skills while looking for work'. But there is mounting evidence that CDP is creating significant hardship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, leading to increasing pressure for the scheme to be scrapped or radically overhauled. This [paper] gathers together a series of short articles to provide background to these developments as well as providing thoughts on a productive way ahead. The contributors are academics and representatives from key Indigenous institutions, all of whom have a longstanding interest in the field and are deeply concerned by the current policy direction. Abstract from publisher's website. The articles are as follows: Introduction / Kirrily Jordan; A most egregious transition: CDEP to CDP / Jon Altman; Why government policies continue to spectacularly fail / Joe Morrison; 'What happened to the E in CDEP?': CDP's disastrous impact on remote communities / John Paterson; CDP and the bureaucratic control of providers / Lisa Fowkes; Impact of CDP on income support of participants / Lisa Fowkes; Only just surviving under CDP: the Ngaanyatjarra Lands case study / Inge Kral; How the ideas behind a universal basic income can inform the development of employment policy for remote Indigenous Australia / Elise Klein; Activities and authority in CDP: making them less punitive / Will Sanders; Moving forward with a better system: academic perspectives.

This report summarises issues of access and equity within education and training for people in rural and remote Australia. The issues identified relate to participation in vocational education and training [VET], issues of community (social and industry) and issues relating to the individual. Pathways and VET in terms of learning culture, course provision, delivery methods, program content, student support and entry requirements are also discussed. The report concludes with a discussion of access and equity implications for the VET system.