MICK GOODA

THE AUSTRALIAN

JANUARY 25, 2016

In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country, old wounds are being reopened. Many of our people are being forced to revisit the past trauma of income management and stolen wages.

The federal government’s Healthy Welfare Card has created great concern and contention, as the measure will disproport­ionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and claw back our hard-won rights and freedoms.

The government, with the support of the opposition, has passed legislation, without any amendments and with very little consultation, to control the finances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in three trial sites, beginning with the South Aust­ralian town of Ceduna next month. The third proposed site, of Halls Creek in the Kimberley, rejected the idea out of hand, with the shire president Malcolm Edwards saying it had adopted the position of its Aboriginal advisory committee to reject the plan.

“At the last meeting, they voted against having the card. They thought it was a bit unfair because it targeted everyone,” Mr Edwards said.

All welfare recipients in the trial areas will have 80 per cent of their welfare quarantined to a bank card. Only 20 per cent of their welfare payment would be available in cash, which the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Alan Tudge, has himself admitted could leave some welfare recipients with as little as $60 in their pocket each week.

It is deeply troubling that the government is “contemplating how to proceed should the trials prove successful” before any trials have even begun.

It begs the question — have the trials been structured in such a way the results have already been predetermined?

What is most perplexing is the government’s apparent fascination with controlling the finances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Our mob are once again the guinea pigs in a trial program lacking any evidence base.

As I outlined in my 2015 Social Justice and Native Title Report, where people have experienced benefits as a result of income management, the results have been modest when compared to their stated objectives. For many, income management results in few or no benefits, and a “sense of loss of control, shame and unfairness”.

Any possible benefit of the card must be weighed against the sense of disempowerment our people ­already face. It must be weighed against the stigma our people continue to face, and the restrictions placed on our basic rights and freedoms we fought so hard for.

We are told by the government that the measure will tackle the ­serious issue of alcohol and drug abuse within our communities.

There is no doubt that alcohol and drug abuse are contributing factors to creating dangerous and disruptive communities; and all children have the right to grow up in safe, nurturing environments — Aboriginal and Torres Strait ­Islander children are no exception.

We have no evidence to support the prediction that a restriction on cash payments will curb an individual’s addiction or their ability to provide a safe environment for their children.

According to Mr Tudge, restricting supply is an effective measure to address these problems. But in the same way that people with serious addiction can circumvent restrictions on supply, they will undoubtedly find innovative ways to circumvent limits on their capacity to purchase.

The role of government is to provide effective policy, based on the best available evidence. In the case of the Healthy Welfare Card, there is no conclusive evidence that it will effectively address issues of alcohol and drug abuse, and encourage good parenting.

Our people do not need a compulsory blanket approach to tackling these issues. We want to work with government to develop long-term, effective solutions to the challenges we face.

I agree with Mr Tudge when he says, “collectively we have to get control of the alcohol abuse that destroys communities and threatens the next generation”, but I disagree that the card is “the solution”. Serious addiction requires thoughtful treatment options rather than punitive measures and silver bullets.

The hardest part of this proposal to accept is that yet again the treatment of our people will be ­different to mainstream Australia, and it is this differentiation of treatment that we have fought so hard to bring into the open.

Mick Gooda is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

The Australian

Sarah Martin, 20 January 2016
Assistant Minister for Social Services Alan Tudge is overseeing the rollout of the cashless welfare card. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

A cashless welfare card aimed at stemming alcohol abuse would be rolled out across the country under a welfare reform the Turnbull government is considering taking to the election.

As regional trouble spots line up to be chosen for trials of the government’s new Healthy Welfare Card to begin next month, The Australian understands the Coalition may seek an election mandate to extend the card to welfare recipients across regional Australia if they achieve positive results.

Under the new system — proposed by mining magnate ­Andrew Forrest in his review of the welfare system in 2014 — 80 per cent of a person’s government payment would be ­quarantined to a bank card that could not be used to buy alcohol and gambling products, nor ­converted to cash.

The remaining 20 per cent could be accessible as cash.

Last year, the government successfully passed legislation to allow the card to be trialled in three test sites, affecting up to 10,000 welfare recipients, beginning in the far-west South Australian town of Ceduna next month, and the East Kimberley in northern Western Australia in March.

The Australian can reveal that since the East Kimberley trial site was announced in November, up to seven West Australian shires have contacted Liberal MPs seeking to take part in the trial of the card, predominantly from the Mid-West and Gascoyne regions.

Melissa Price, MP for the vast regional seat of Durack, said the councils had contacted her because they were struggling with social dysfunction arising from alcohol abuse that was not being curbed by existing programs.

“There is a sense of urgency, certainly in my patch of regional Western Australia, where in some cases we have got alcohol management plans that have worked to a certain extent, but people want to see the Healthy Welfare Card implemented alongside the alcohol management plans,” Ms Price said.

“Without a doubt, if you don’t have a community that is abusing alcohol, it is better not just for the individual but for the community itself.”

Ms Price is pushing for the regional centre of Geraldton to become the third trial site.

This would allow the government to test the card in a city where the majority of welfare recipients are non-indigenous and provide a blueprint for how the card could work in metropolitan areas.

“Obviously it is subject to the results of the trial, but it is very interesting to see how this could get rolled out in a major city as this is not just a problem in the bush,” she said.

If the card were rolled out across all regional communities in Australia, up to 100,000 people on government income support could be captured.

It could include more people if the Basics Card in the Northern Territory were replaced, or if metropolitan trouble-spots currently subject to income quarantining were also included.

Assistant Minister for Social Services Alan Tudge, who is overseeing the rollout of the card, is hopeful trials will prove the measure can be the “solution” to alcohol-induced social harm.

He says that if the trials are successful, the government will want the card to have a broader application.

“Offering the card to other regions would a logical next step, beginning with those Western Australian locations that have already shown initial support,” Mr Tudge writes in The Australian today.

“Others have suggested that the card could have wider application.

“It is early days, but one thing is clear: collectively we have to get control of the alcohol abuse that destroys communities and now threatens the next generation.

“The cashless welfare debit card may be the solution.”

The Australian, 16/12/15

Rick Morton, Michael Owen

The government is walking away from its flagship Work for the Dole scheme and will save $127 million by restricting the program and its contingent intensive support to unemployed people under 25.

The money will be recouped over three years from the program that was at one stage due to have 150,000 participants across the country.

Between July and September this year, the vast majority of work-for-the-dole participants were over 25. Estimates data shows there were 21,131 over-30s and 15,148 under-30s. On September 30, there were more than 21,000 people aged over 25 in Work for the Dole.

Work for the Dole was mandatory for those aged up to 60 under the old regime, tied to monthly appointments with the government’s Jobactive service providers , to help them find work.

Under the updated system, those receiving the “intensive” services at June 30 this year will be grandfathered, but new entrants having problems finding work and jobseekers over 25 will use regular Jobactive services.

In the three months from July to September this year, the government spent $64.5m on Work for the Dole, including $12.5m to co-ordinators.

As at June 30, almost 17 per cent of job-support clients who had found work for six months — considered a bonus milestone — were back without work after a further six months. The rate was almost 30 per cent for those with the most significant support requirements.

Work for the Dole was criticised by many in the welfare sector for being ineffective compared with other intensive training options or wage subsidies. About 19 per cent of those participating in Work for the Dole schemes were employed three months later.

Departmental data suggests wage subsidies result in job outcomes of between 47 per cent and 65 per cent after six months.

More money will be given to a national program to help school- leavers into full-time work with the $212m Transition to Work getting a $109.8m boost over four years. The program is for people aged 15-21, including those who are not on income support, to help them overcome barriers to employment and gain skills to get into the workplace.

Lisa Stewart, 29, said without compulsory Work for the Dole she would never have had the opportunity to acquire the skills to find full-time work. Ms Stewart, who left school in NSW in Year 9, ended up in Adelaide at 19 with a limited education, few skills and next to no job prospects.

She is now a fully fledged hospitality employee with the Adelaide Convention Centre and the Tandanya indigenous arts centre’s cafe, after completing a vocational education course in North Adelaide and a Work for the Dole program, where she worked three days a week.

“I’ve had a pretty rough trot throughout my life, but I am determined to better myself and get on the road to success,” she said. “They should not discriminate on how old you are. I only found myself in my mid-20s and the doors started opening through the Work for the Dole program.”

The Australian

The government’s flagship indigenous job creation program that aimed to employ 5000 people by the end of the year has resulted in just 471 jobs retained for longer than six months.

Based on the GenerationOne employment model developed by mining magnate Andrew Forrest, the $70 million Vocational Training and Employment Centres were an election commitment of the Coalition and are designed to reward businesses for keeping indigenous Australians employed.

Figures obtained by The Australian from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet show that while 2723 people have started the VTEC program since January 2014, just 471 have secured employment for the targeted 26 weeks.

A total of 1978 indigenous jobseekers have been placed in jobs in the past 18 months. Many may yet meet the 26-week employment target by the end of the year.

But about 10 per cent of participants — 237 people — have begun jobs and dropped out of the program, and a further 192 people have left the program before beginning employment.

The program has so far cost about $20m.

The figures provided by the department suggest the retention rate for those who begin employment placements is about 66 per cent.

Labor indigenous affairs spokesman Shayne Neumann said the results suggested the program was falling short of its promised benefits and the government would fail to meet the 5000 jobs pledge.

“This has been going on for ­almost two years now and we have dismal results,” Mr Neumann said.

“It hasn’t started well, the drop-out rates are already significant, and only 17.3 per cent of people who have started have reached the 26 weeks, so that is not a good outcome.”

But GenerationOne’s national manager of vocational training and employment Matthew O’Sullivan said the outcomes were positive, particularly given the program dealt with many hardcore unemployed.

“With several thousand indigenous people moving into employment already and with many more expected do so by the end of the year, GenerationOne is proud of what is being achieved by the network of VTECs,” he said.

“This is particularly so when you consider that VTECs are required to target indigenous jobseekers that have been assessed by Centrelink as having significant and multiple barriers to employment.”

Under the program, VTEC providers are contracted to employ strategies to ensure job retention rates and must provide post-placement support throughout the 26 weeks of employment.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the government was monitoring the program.

“While it is too early to assess final outcomes, the government is monitoring progress closely and supporting VTECs to reach employment targets,” Senator Scullion said.

The government initially committed $45m for the country’s 28 VTECs to place up to 5000 indigenous Australians into “guaranteed jobs”. A further $25m was committed to the program in last year’s budget under the Indigenous Advancement Strategy.