tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/indigenous-employment-11381/articlesIndigenous employment – The Conversation2023-08-29T20:11:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2124402023-08-29T20:11:40Z2023-08-29T20:11:40ZTo boost Indigenous employment, we need to map job opportunities to skills and qualifications. Our new project does just that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545177/original/file-20230829-28-obrmx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C787%2C5002%2C2542&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For employers wanting to recruit Indigenous workers, two key factors stand in their way: geography combined with lack of job diversity, and a mismatch between educational qualifications and job opportunities. </p>
<p>We’ve charted this mismatch with the <a href="https://indigenous-jobsmap.csiro.au/#/">Indigenous Jobs Map</a>, using artificial intelligence to analyse more than 10 million job ads.</p>
<p>The map, is an Indigenous-led project supported by researchers and experts across CSIRO and external organisations.</p>
<p>It identifies three types of Indigenous-related job ads: those seeking an Indigenous candidate; those seeking “cultural capability” (for which a non-Indigenous candidate might also qualify); and jobs for which Indigenous candidates are encouraged to apply.</p>
<p>Using AI to analyse all job ads posted in Australia between 2016 and 2022, we calculate: </p>
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<li><p>about 10% of all ads encouraged Indigenous applicants. These were ads stating that applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were welcomed or encouraged.</p></li>
<li><p>about 2% were for roles that required Indigenous cultural knowledge, skills and expertise, or experience working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.</p></li>
<li><p>about 1% were for roles that only Indigenous peoples can apply for (or which give priority to Indigenous applicants in the selection process). These roles typically involve direct interaction with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities. </p></li>
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<p>Of course, Indigenous workers can apply for any job, regardless of whether it specifically targets or encourages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.</p>
<p>However, the 2.3% of job ads for Indigenous people or requiring Indigenous cultural capability reflects the strong demand for Indigenous talent in the Australian labour market.</p>
<p>The number of these advertisements is increasing; in 2016 they represented 1.0% of Australian job ads and by 2022 they had reached 3.6%. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise about 2% of the workforce (either employed or actively seeking work). </p>
<p>So why aren’t these efforts to attract Indigenous workers making more of a difference?</p>
<h2>Geographic mismatch</h2>
<p>The infographic illustrates how geography limits these efforts. Each bubble represents a region of Australia. The size of the bubble represents the number of Indigenous workers in the region. </p>
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<p>Regions above the horizontal black line have a higher-than-average proportion of Indigenous-focused job ads. Regions below this line have fewer Indigenous-focused job postings than average. </p>
<p>Regions to the left of the vertical line have a lower-than-average proportion of Indigenous workers in their labour market. Regions to the right have a higher-than-average proportion of Indigenous workers. </p>
<p>If demand for Indigenous workers was aligned with supply, most regions would be positioned on, or near the red diagonal line. </p>
<p>Instead, we see many regions where demand for Indigenous workers is relatively high but the supply of Indigenous workers is relatively low. </p>
<p>The Ballarat region in Victoria illustrates this disparity, with 2,910 Indigenous- focused job ads compared to an Indigenous workforce of 640 individuals. In contrast, in the New England region of New South Wales, there were 5,821 Indigenous workers and 2,483 Indigenous-focused job ads. </p>
<p>In other words, employers are recruiting for Indigenous talent in the wrong places. </p>
<h2>Limited range of job types</h2>
<p>There is also a lack of diversity in the roles being advertised. Most are in just three sectors: public administration and safety; health care and social assistance; and education and training. A disproportionate number are for community and personal-service worker roles.</p>
<p>This strong sector-specific demand does not align with the qualifications of the Indigenous workforce.</p>
<p>For example, we counted 7,610 Indigenous focused job ads requiring a qualification in medicine. But the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/IQSAUS">2021 Census</a> counted just 585 Indigenous people holding their highest qualification in medicine.</p>
<p>The following chart illustrates these demand and supply differences according to educational field. </p>
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<p>The size of each bubble reflects the number of Indigenous workers with formal qualifications in this field. The position of the bubble (to the left or right of the vertical line) reflects the proportion of Indigenous-focused job ads that require this qualification. </p>
<p>Employers post job ads seeking Indigenous workers with qualifications in society and culture, health and education. While Indigenous workers are likely to have qualifications in society and culture, they are not well represented in health and education. Indigenous workers are better represented in fields such as agriculture and environment, society and culture and food, hospitality and personal services.</p>
<p>Job ads targeting Indigenous workers are not found across the board. When we look across all jobs ads (not just those targeting Indigenous workers), management and commerce qualifications are in highest demand. The opportunities for Indigenous workers are limited in diversity and often not well-aligned with the educational pathways commonly chosen by Indigenous peoples.</p>
<h2>Feast and famine</h2>
<p>The effect of this geographic and qualification mismatch is to create a landscape of feast (for some) and famine (for many others). </p>
<p>For instance, in Melbourne there were more than 60,000 Indigenous-focused job ads for each Indigenous worker in the region with an Information Systems qualification.</p>
<p>On the flip side, there were very few employers targeting Indigenous workers with a building qualification. For example, in Townsville there was one Indigenous-focused job ad for the 128 Indigenous workers with a qualification in building. </p>
<p>By understanding the career pathways of Indigenous peoples and tailoring their workforce strategies to align with the locations and qualifications held by Indigenous peoples, employers can do more to ensure that they are successful in their efforts to attract Indigenous workers. </p>
<h2>Education is key</h2>
<p>Remote work arrangements can help mitigate the geographic mismatch between current demand for and supply of Indigenous talent. But, ultimately, improving job opportunities for Indigenous Australians requires a whole-of-ecosystem approach involving Indigenous communities, educators, employers and policy makers.</p>
<p>The visible growth in employers’ efforts to recruit Indigenous workers represents positive change. The Indigenous Jobs Map reveals how these efforts can be directed more effectively so they translate into employment outcomes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-owned-businesses-are-key-to-closing-the-employment-gap-208579">Indigenous-owned businesses are key to closing the employment gap</a>
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<p>The data also confirms education is the key pathway to highly skilled and well-paid employment. A Bachelor’s degree is most highly sought after, being required in 22.5% of Indigenous focused job ads. Effort needs to be directed towards improving the number of Indigenous people gaining higher educational qualifications. </p>
<p>By engaging Indigenous students in schools, employers can help students and carers understand how their unique knowledge and approach add value in the workplace. Connecting directly and early with Indigenous communities will improve the pipeline of Indigenous talent and ultimately, achieve a more inclusive labour market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Mason works for the CSIRO. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Haohui Chen works for CSIRO. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louisa Warren does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More Australian employers are keen to employ Indigenous workers, but a large-scale analysis of job adverts shows a mismatch between demand for and supply of Indigenous talent.Claire Mason, Principal Research Scientist, CSIROHaohui Chen, Senior Research Scientist, Data61Louisa Warren, Executive Manager, Indigenous Engagement, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085792023-06-30T08:21:02Z2023-06-30T08:21:02ZIndigenous-owned businesses are key to closing the employment gap<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-first-nations-employment-gap-will-take-100-years-205290">employment gap</a> between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has barely changed since federal and state governments vowed to halve it more than 15 years ago. It’s a failure that raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the policies pursued. </p>
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<p>But one government program does seem to be helping, even though it <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14719037.2019.1679235">isn’t explicitly designed</a> to improve employment: the <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/economic-development/indigenous-procurement-policy-ipp">Indigenous Procurement Policy</a>.</p>
<p>Since 2015 the federal government has required a percentage of government contracts to be awarded to Indigenous businesses. This is currently 3% of eligible procurements by volume and 1.75% by value (increasing to 3% in 2027-28.) </p>
<p>State and territory governments have similar procurement targets.
(Indigenous Australians make up about <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/latest-release">3.8% of the population</a>).</p>
<p>We’ve analysed data on more than 3,000 businesses that qualify for this program, registered with Supply Nation, a directory funded by the <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/">National Indigenous Australians Agency</a> to assist government departments (and others) to source from an Indigenous business.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajs4.271">analysis shows</a>
3,327 businesses employed almost 38,000 people, 36% of whom were Indigenous. That compares with a 2.2% rate among 42 of Australia’s largest corporations surveyed in 2022 for the <a href="https://bcec.edu.au/publications/woort-koorliny-australian-indigenous-employment-index-2022/">Woort Koorliny – Australian Indigenous Employment Index</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-first-nations-employment-gap-will-take-100-years-205290">Closing the First Nations employment gap will take 100 years</a>
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<h2>Defining Indigenous ownership</h2>
<p><a href="https://supplynation.org.au/">Supply Nation</a> is Australia’s largest directory of Indigenous businesses. There are also state-based registries, such as <a href="https://kinaway.com.au/">Kinaway</a> in Victoria, the Northern Territory’s <a href="https://ntibn.com.au/">Indigenous Business Network</a>, and Queensland’s <a href="https://www.bbf.org.au/">Black Business Finder</a>. </p>
<p>To be in the directory a business must be at least 50% Indigenous-owned. The directory also shows if a business is at least 51% Indigenous-owned – the threshold to ensure real control. Some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/22/indigenous-entrepreneurs-urged-to-verify-their-business-to-weed-out-black-cladding">argue this</a> or <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/black-cladding-what-is-it/k45jtkxxk">even 100%</a> Indigenous ownership should be the standard for procurement policies. </p>
<p>Each registry maintains their own processes to verify bona fides.
Supply Nation checks the ownership documents of the business and <a href="https://indigenousx.com.au/the-confirmation-of-aboriginality-and-fake-aborigines/">Certification of Aboriginality</a>, typically provided through an Aboriginal community organisation or land council. This information is crosschecked with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s business registry. </p>
<p>Not all Indigenous businesses list themselves on registries but the 3,327 in Supply Nation are a good sample size. University of Melbourne research, for example, counted <a href="https://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/cibl/assets/snapshot/RFQ03898-M-and-M-Snapshot-Study.pdf">3,619</a> Indigenous businesses in Australia in 2018. </p>
<h2>Small is bountiful</h2>
<p>On average, our results show that the bigger the business, the lower the rate of Indigenous employees.</p>
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<p>This likely just reflects limits of the number of Indigenous people in the labour market.</p>
<p>For example, a small family-owned and operated Indigenous business will be able to recruit from personal networks. A large company, by contrast, will recruit from a broader labour market, and find it difficult to maintain a primarily Indigenous workforce. This helps explain why smaller businesses have a Indigenous employment rates of 52%, whereas for the largest Indigenous businesses the rate is 16%. But this is still significantly higher than in non-Indigenous businesses. </p>
<h2>Profit or not</h2>
<p>About 93% of Supply Nation businesses are for-profit, and 7% are not-for-profit. A higher proportion of not-for-profits are located in <a href="https://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/cibl/assets/snapshot/RFQ03898-M-and-M-Snapshot-Study.pdf">remote areas</a> – that likely provide Indigenous-specific community services. This also helps explain the higher rates of Indigenous employment. </p>
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<h2>Sectoral differences</h2>
<p>Supply Nation businesses broadly reflect sectoral industry patterns, with some obvious differences. There are more businesses in education & training, arts and recreation, and public safety and administration.</p>
<p>This reflects government departmental interests and demand for <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3047546464/view">Indigenous knowledge</a> in certain areas. There are for example, 101 organisations offering cultural competency training.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/caring-for-country-how-remote-communities-are-building-on-payment-for-ecosystem-services-116737">Caring for Country: how remote communities are building on payment for ecosystem services</a>
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<h2>Measuring what works</h2>
<p>These numbers indicate Indigenous-owned business are powerful drivers of Indigenous employment. The Indigenous Procurement Policy has contributed to this.</p>
<p>Yet oddly, while the policy is intended to provide Indigenous Australians “with more opportunities to participate in the economy”, its contribution to employment is not explicitly mentioned or measured. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-we-moved-the-goalposts-on-indigenous-policies-so-they-reflect-indigenous-values-112282">It's time we moved the goalposts on Indigenous policies, so they reflect Indigenous values</a>
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<p>As the federal government considers a suite of reforms to employment programs, this is something that should be addressed to ensure the policy directing procurement dollars to where it delivers the best return, for the public purse and Indigenous people. </p>
<p>Our research is also a reminder to individual consumers as to the positive social impacts supporting Indigenous businesses can have. </p>
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<p><em>This article is based on research undertaken at The Australian National University by Christian Eva, Kerry Bodle, Dennis Foley, Jessica Harris and Boyd Hunter.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research project of which this article reports on is subject to funding from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)</span></em></p>Indigenous-owned business are powerful drivers of Indigenous employment.Christian Eva, PhD Candidate, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2052902023-05-31T20:07:49Z2023-05-31T20:07:49ZClosing the First Nations employment gap will take 100 years<p>In 2008 Australia’s federal, state and territory governments set the goal of <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/closing_the_gap.pdf">halving the employment gap</a> between First Nations Australians and others within a decade. That required, by 2018, lifting the employment rate for First Nations Australians from <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/closing_the_gap.pdf">48% to 60%</a>, with the rate for other Australians being <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/closing_the_gap.pdf">72%</a>.</p>
<p>So how are things going? Not well.</p>
<p>At the 2021 census the employment rate for First Nations Australians was 51%, while the rate for other Australians was <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/microdata-tablebuilder/tablebuilder">74%</a>. </p>
<p>Assuming the employment rate for other Australians does not change, the rate of incremental gains in First Nations employment since 2008 suggests that closing the employment gap is going to take 100 years.</p>
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<p>We have analysed the employment data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to get a more granular picture of why so little progress has been made. </p>
<p>Our results show the ongoing problems of low educational attainment and lack of employment opportunities in rural and remote areas, where the majority of First Nations Australians live.</p>
<h2>What these statistics show</h2>
<p>Before we continue, it’s important to note the following statistics use a slightly different way to measure employment (and unemployment) rates than that used in the Australian government’s <a href="https://ctgreport.niaa.gov.au/">Closing the Gap</a> reports, referenced above.</p>
<p>The Closing the Gap methodology measures employment as a percentage of all people aged 15 to 64. We’ve adopted the approach used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for its unemployment data. This approach measures the employment rate as the percentage of people employed in the labour force – the labour force being anyone working or registered as looking for work. </p>
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<img alt="The first Closing the Gap report, 2009." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529314/original/file-20230531-27-svx1ew.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The first Closing the Gap report, 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.closingthegap.gov.au/resources/reports">Australian Government</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The rationale for the Closing the Gap methodology is that the bureau’s measure overstates Indigenous employment, because First Nations Australians have a lower labour-force participation rate. That is, there is a greater proportion of Indigenous Australians that don’t have jobs but are not counted as unemployed because they aren’t registered as unemployed.</p>
<p>There are pros and cons to both approaches. We’re using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, so we’ve stuck with the bureau’s approach. It doesn’t substantially change the results, but it’s important to acknowledge the subtle distinction. </p>
<h2>Educational attainment matters</h2>
<p>Our first two graphs demonstrate the importance of educational outcomes.</p>
<p>Almost half of the First Nations Australians (49%) do not have a qualification beyond secondary education, compared with 31% of other Australians. About 12% of First Nations Australians attain university qualifications of a bachelor’s degree and above (graduate diploma or postgraduate), compared with about 37% of other Australians.</p>
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<p>These differences in educational attainment are reflected in employment outcomes. </p>
<p>For the 6.7% of First Nations Australians who leave school before year 10, the unemployment rate is more than 25%. For those with no qualification beyond year 10 to 12 of secondary school, the rate is 16.7%. </p>
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<p>Unemployment rates begin to equalise only with university qualifications.
For every level of educational attainment less than a diploma, First Nations unemployment rate is at least double that of other Australians. </p>
<h2>Location counts</h2>
<p>There are likely multiple reasons for these stark differences in employment outcomes by education, <a href="https://cdn.minderoo.org/content/uploads/2022/05/22105150/Woort-%20Koorliny-Australian-Indigenous-Employment-Index-2022.pdf">including discrimination</a>. But one clear factor is geographic location. </p>
<p>First Nations Australians in remote and very remote locations are twice more likely to be unemployed than their peers in major cities (where the unemployment rate is still double that of other Australians). The more remote, the higher the rate of unemployment.</p>
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<p>Why do the unemployment rates for other Australians show the opposite trend, with lower rates the more remote? Our best guess is this disparity reflects a combination of the effects of educational attainment, job opportunities available and labour mobility.</p>
<p>Non-Indigenous Australians in remote regions are more likely to have moved to these areas only after securing jobs upon attaining their schooling and qualifications in a big city. Governments often <a href="https://www.regionalwork.sa.gov.au/financial-support/workers">provide incentives</a> for those with the right skills to <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/grants-and-funding/regional-skills-relocation-grant-0">relocate to these regions</a>. </p>
<p>This disparity presents a stark challenge for employment programs, given almost 60% of First Nations Australians live outside the major cities, compared with only a quarter of other Australians. </p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Remoteness areas for Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529257/original/file-20230531-25-lz397l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Remoteness areas for Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/remoteness-structure/remoteness-areas">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Commonwealth employment programs for remote regions have a vexed history, with the most recent program, known as the Community Development Program, <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/welcome-end-to-so-called-community-development-program-cdp/">being cancelled in 2021</a>. The Albanese government announced a replacement <a href="https://www.indigenous.gov.au/news-and-media/announcements/new-remote-jobs-program-replace-cdp-changes-mutual-obligation">remote jobs program</a> in the May federal budget.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-government-announces-424-million-to-narrow-a-gap-that-is-not-closing-fast-enough-199750">Albanese government announces $424 million to narrow a gap that is not closing fast enough</a>
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<h2>Employment by occupation</h2>
<p>The unemployment-related factors lead to differences in the occupational profile of First Nations Australians. They are more likely than other Australians to be employed in community and personal services or manual labour, and significantly less likely to be in a professional or managerial role.</p>
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<p><iframe id="c4dBX" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/c4dBX/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<hr>
<h2>Different approaches needed</h2>
<p>These statistics show that, with the exception of those achieving postgraduate qualifications, First Nations Australians face multiple disadvantages in employment.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-arent-closing-the-gap-a-failure-to-account-for-cultural-counterfactuals-129076">Why we aren't closing the gap: a failure to account for 'cultural counterfactuals'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The lack of any significant progress in the past 25 years suggests just continuing with the same policies will achieve little. </p>
<p>Something has to change. Listening to those closest to the problem, and giving First Nations Australians a greater say in designing and implementing solutions would be a good start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the 15 years since Australian governments committed to improving Indigenous employment rates, virtually nothing has been achieved.Reza M. Monem, Professor of Accounting, Griffith UniversityHayden McDonald, Program Director, Torrens University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1413722020-07-09T04:44:03Z2020-07-09T04:44:03Z‘Tokenised, silenced’: new research reveals Indigenous public servants’ experiences of racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346477/original/file-20200708-23-bcplu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=56%2C50%2C4139%2C2711&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Morrison government has just announced <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/new-plan-boosts-indigenous-australians-in-senior-public-sector-roles-20200702-p558gb.html">a plan</a> to boost the number of Indigenous Australians in the top ranks of the Australian Public Service. </p>
<p>The plan may be well-intentioned, but it is also one in a <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/indigenous-employment-strategy-2012-16">long line</a> of attempts to boost Indigenous employment in the public service. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-432-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-no-one-has-ever-been-convicted-racist-silence-and-complicity-are-to-blame-139873">Despite 432 Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991, no one has ever been convicted. Racist silence and complicity are to blame</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>My new research shows how racism pervades the public service - one of the most important and powerful structures in the country. </p>
<p>The public service can develop all the strategies it likes. But these will mean nothing unless the public service invests in robust, anti-racist and Indigenous-led strategies. </p>
<h2>Racism: every day in every way</h2>
<p>In recent weeks, we have seen unprecedented conversations about racism, sparked by the brutal murder of George Floyd. In Australia, this focussed attention on the 430-plus Indigenous <a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-432-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-since-1991-no-one-has-ever-been-convicted-racist-silence-and-complicity-are-to-blame-139873">deaths in custody</a> since the <a href="http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/research/ageofinquiry/biogs/E000178b.htm">1991 royal commission</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346479/original/file-20200708-87067-1azw28b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australians have taken to the streets to protest against Indigenous deaths in custody.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Wainwright/ AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As these episodes show, we tend to only observe racism in its most overt and violent forms. But to understand how <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-racism-is-so-hard-to-define-and-even-harder-to-understand-106236">race works</a>, we need to look at how it pervades all aspects of life.</p>
<p>If Australians really want to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism in this country, it is time to listen to the voices of Indigenous Australians and learn. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-twitter-accounts-you-should-be-following-if-you-want-to-listen-to-indigenous-australians-and-learn-140353">Ten Twitter accounts you should be following if you want to listen to Indigenous Australians and learn</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Australians also need to understand that racism is not a single event – it is embedded in all Australian systems, institutions and workplaces. Indigenous Australians experience racism every day in every way. </p>
<h2>Racism in the public service</h2>
<p>My book, <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/publications/products/unmasking-racial-contract-indigenous-voices-racism-australian-public-service/paperback-pdf-epub-kindle">Unmasking the racial contract</a>, draws on the experiences of 21 Indigenous public servants, obtained through yarning sessions, or conversations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-racism-is-so-hard-to-define-and-even-harder-to-understand-106236">Why racism is so hard to define and even harder to understand</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I was an Indigenous employee of the public service for 14 years. The ongoing failure of the public service to accurately understand and acknowledge the experiences of its Indigenous employees led me to conduct my research.</p>
<p>I started by asking Indigenous employees to speak about their experiences with recruitment, career progression and everyday work. This revealed the ways that individual and systemic racism operate in the public service. </p>
<h2>The importance of the public service</h2>
<p>The Australian Public Service - which provides advice to the federal government of the day and implements its policies - is a microcosm of Australia. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://apsc.govcms.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_state_of_the_service_report_2018-19.pdf">June 2019</a>, there were 147,237 Australian Public Service employees, with 3.5% identifying as Indigenous (compared to approx 3.3% of the Australian population). </p>
<p>Indeed, it is one of the largest employers of Indigenous peoples in the country, and holds itself up as a bastion of support for equality and career progression through various Indigenous <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/indigenous-workforce-strategy">employment strategies</a>, Reconciliation “<a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/innovate-reconciliation-action-plan-august-2019-august-2021">action plans</a>” and Indigenous <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-cultural-capability-framework">cultural awareness</a> initiatives. </p>
<p>The 2019 <a href="https://apsc.govcms.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_state_of_the_service_report_2018-19.pdf">APS State of the Service Report</a> indicated many Indigenous employees had positive attitudes about inclusion in the public service (for example, more than 80% agreed with the statement “my supervisor actively supports people from diverse backgrounds”). But this does not capture the actual experiences of Indigenous employees. </p>
<h2>The myth of meritocracy</h2>
<p>The public service is officially a meritocracy. It says it operates on the “<a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/aps-merit-principle">merit principle</a>,” underpinned by legislation. </p>
<p>But the idea that all employment, promotion and commendation decisions are made on an entirely neutral basis is a myth. A disproportionately high number of Indigenous employees languish on the lower rungs of the employment ladder.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346481/original/file-20200708-58-1ysfg5s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous Australians make up a tiny fraction of senior public servants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/ AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to <a href="https://apsc.govcms.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_state_of_the_service_report_2018-19.pdf">2019 data</a>, Indigenous employment is concentrated at the lower APS 3 and 4 levels, while with non-Indigenous is concentrated at the higher, APS 5 and 6 levels.</p>
<p>Tellingly, Indigenous employees make up 1.2% of the public service’s Senior Executive Service (SES) workforce. This is just 32 Indigenous SES members out of a total of 2,780. As one interviewee observed</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you were to look at all the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SES [staff] in Australia, you could probably name them … the percentage is so small. It’s certainly not that we’re not bright or capable or efficient or any of those things. So, what is the reason?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, they are leaving the public service at a faster rate than non-Indigenous employees. <a href="https://www.apsc.gov.au/sites/default/files/apsc_catsies_evaluation_report_final.pdf">In 2018</a>, 8.4% of Indigenous employees left the public service, compared to 6.5% of non-Indigenous employees. </p>
<h2>‘Just here for the stats’</h2>
<p>During my research, Indigenous employees reported that they felt tokenised and not seen as professionals with genuine skills or expertise to offer. They said they were valued only for their cultural knowledge: “It feels like I am just here for the stats”. </p>
<p>They also reported they were pigeonholed into Indigenous policy jobs and denied the chance to work in mainstream portfolios.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a little bit of that ‘black face’ — we better put you in a black program as opposed to thinking maybe mainstream might be a good opportunity to contribute.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indigenous interviewees also raised concerns about the use of “identified positions” for Indigenous employees at all levels. Contrary to what might be expected, these were not restricted to Indigenous people</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’ll find most people who win those positions have been white people. A lot of the people that sit on these interview panels are white people.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Marginalised, ignored</h2>
<p>Indigenous employees said they were were marginalised and silenced. If they spoke up, raising concerns about recruitment decisions or practices, they were ignored </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A few of us senior people went to visit one of the deputy secretaries [senior leaders] who was responsible for HR management to talk about our concerns… we literally had the ‘face in the hand’ to stop talking because she didn’t wanna hear it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Employees said there was an expectation that they leave their Indigeneity at the door when they came to work</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You know I been asked to go to meetings with supervisors and warned before we get there that I’m only there as onlooker and told — just sit there — don’t say a thing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also reported being labelled as a “problem” employee if they raised issues about how they were treated</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s almost like you have to make a choice whether you speak up about racism and get the finger pointed at you, like, ‘Oh. Don’t be so sensitive’.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The public service needs to listen more and learn</h2>
<p>Indigenous employees have paid, and continue to pay, a high price for racism. One interviewee described how it ended their career in the public service</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had several acting branch manager stints, which was great. But in the end, I left for a job that paid less because I just didn’t feel I could influence or support any changes.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shiny new plans and strategies are all well and good. But a more fundamental shift is needed: Indigenous employees must become a genuine and valued part of the public service. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346480/original/file-20200708-42-cnzwuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has recently announced a new plan to boost the numbers of senior public servants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A deeper understanding about what racism is and how race works is a good place to start. Non-Indigenous colleagues and managers must commit to anti-racist workplaces. This requires managers to act on reports of racism - the continued failure to do so makes them complicit in perpetuating white supremacy.</p>
<p>Structural change is also necessary. This requires non-Indigenous leaders relinquishing their automatic right to power and control - adopting principles of solidarity to work with us, not against us. Crucially, it means Indigenous employees must have a seat at the table and must be heard. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/constitutional-recognition-for-indigenous-australians-must-involve-structural-change-not-mere-symbolism-131751">Constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians must involve structural change, not mere symbolism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indigenous resistance has been a 230-year journey of solidarity and survival. Indigenous Australian leadership has mobilised numerous protests and campaigns against systemic racism in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, in a call to action for all Australians. </p>
<p>But the fight against racism must also extend to one of our our most important institutions - the public service - that shapes how government decisions are made and then carried out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141372/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Debbie Bargallie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Australian Public Service is one of the country’s most powerful institutions. Yet Indigenous people make up just 1.2% of its senior ranks.Debbie Bargallie, Postdoctoral Senior Research Fellow, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1396222020-07-02T14:04:43Z2020-07-02T14:04:43ZMexico City buried its rivers to prevent disease and unwittingly created a dry, polluted city where COVID-19 now thrives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345131/original/file-20200701-141278-xa8j31.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5176%2C3445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Situated on a plateau and surrounded by mountains, Mexico City – seen here in a haze on May 20, 2018 – is a 'bowl' that traps smog and dust.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mexico-Pollution/bf0cb5c6c58140afa6693a2e8c0157cd/75/0">AP Photo/Marco Ugarte</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Leer <a href="https://theconversation.com/contaminacion-el-silencioso-enemigo-de-la-cdmx-en-la-lucha-contra-el-covid-19-143504">en español</a></em></p>
<p>Mexico City is a dust bowl, a <a href="https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/312/31204702.pdf">polluted megalopolis</a> where breathing is hard and newly washed clothes hung out to dry turn stiff by evening. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began clobbering this capital city, residents regularly wore face masks during the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/17/americas/mexico-city-pollution-in-photos-intl/index.html">frequent air quality emergencies</a> there. </p>
<p>Now Mexico City’s bad air pollution – which contributes to high rates of <a href="https://www.gob.mx/inecc/documentos/coronavirus-sars-cov-2-contaminacion-atmosferica-y-riesgos-a-la-salud">respiratory and cardiovascular diseases</a> – is making the metropolitan area’s 21 million people more vulnerable to the coronavirus. </p>
<p>Mexico City wasn’t always an ecological and health disaster. As the center of the Aztec empire, it was verdant and diverse. As late as the early 20th century, 45 rivers ran through the Mexican capital.</p>
<p>The decision to bury and pave over its rivers, creating today’s arid metropolis, was a 20th-century plan meant to protect residents from disease – specifically, cholera, <a href="http://oa.upm.es/57891/1/TFG_20_CODERCH_CARRETERO_PAULA.pdf">malaria and other waterborne illnesses brought on by frequent flooding</a>.</p>
<h2>Origins of Mexico City</h2>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LA4-pCYAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar who studies poverty</a> with a focus on urban areas, and Mexico City is my gray, concrete hometown. The relationship between its geography, history and health outcomes are relevant today, as the city struggles with its latest disease outbreak.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/312/31204702.pdf">Mexico City was founded</a> by the people now called Aztecs – but who called themselves Tenochcas – in 1325. The Aztecs built their city on a rock in Lake Texcoco, mostly because the more prime locations along the shore were already taken. </p>
<p>By 1427 the powerful Aztecs had defeated their lakeshore neighbors and built a shining capital that spanned the lake. The city, called Tenochtitlan, was built amid water by the development of “<a href="http://zaloamati.azc.uam.mx/handle/11191/5077">chinampas</a>” – small plots of lake filled in with debris, pottery and soil to create solid land, with channels flowing around them. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The foremost chronicler of Spain’s colonization of Mexico, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm">Bernal Díaz del Castillo</a>, described Tenochtitlan as crisscrossed by engineering marvels like causeways and removable bridges, and full of “splendid” palaces. Diaz del Castillo reports that the city market was larger and better regulated than those of <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm">Constantinople and Rome</a>. As in the Roman empire, aqueducts supplied the city with <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm">fresh water</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345079/original/file-20200701-53-1eotava.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Replica of Tenochtitlan, with its causeways and canals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/4ULeHK">Randal Sheppard/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tenochtitlan looked like Venice – gorgeous – and had the same health problems, including contaminated water, mosquitoes and unpleasant smells. But the Aztecs <a href="https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/312/31204702.pdf">managed the city well and prevented flooding</a>. Their dikes and waterways permitted a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40315074.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A92c9cb15fd681165ffef84e7676e5128">great diversity of plants and animals to flourish</a>, and the chinampa agricultural system – in which land was replenished with soil dredged from the lake bottom – was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40315074.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A92c9cb15fd681165ffef84e7676e5128">one of the most productive</a> the world has ever known. </p>
<h2>Spanish incompetence</h2>
<p>That good urban management <a href="https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/312/31204702.pdf">ended with the Spanish conquest in 1521</a>. Tenochtitlan was destroyed, its <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32474/32474-h/32474-h.htm">palaces and causeways turned to rubble at the bottom of the lake</a>.</p>
<p>The Spaniards did not understand the watery ecology of the area, nor <a href="https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/312/31204702.pdf">did they understand or respect</a> Aztec engineering. To rebuild their capital, they drained the lake. </p>
<p>This strategy led to both drought and an inadequate water supply for most of the year. Rainy season, however, brought <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40315074.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A92c9cb15fd681165ffef84e7676e5128">tremendous floods</a>. In 1629, the worst flood in Mexico City’s recorded history is said to have lasted five years and killed more than 30,000 people due to drowning and disease. Churches reportedly <a href="http://oa.upm.es/57891/1/TFG_20_CODERCH_CARRETERO_PAULA.pdf">held rooftop masses</a>. </p>
<p>Rainy season turned parts of the city turned into cesspools, spawning waterborne diseases like <a href="http://www.hmc.mil.ar/webResources/Documentos/inundaciones.pdf">cholera and malaria</a>, as well as meningitis. Gastrointestinal illnesses festered, too, because residents used Mexico City’s rivers for dumping garbage and sewage. <a href="http://oa.upm.es/57891/1/TFG_20_CODERCH_CARRETERO_PAULA.pdf">Human</a> and <a href="http://www.hmc.mil.ar/webResources/Documentos/inundaciones.pdf">animal</a> bodies floated in the stagnant waters, emitting a terrible stench.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345061/original/file-20200701-159785-1btcp7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canals in Xochimilco, a part of Mexico City that retains its ancient waterways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-aztec-canals-at-the-floating-gardens-of-xochimilco-the-news-photo/152201035?adppopup=true">Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mexico goes deep</h2>
<p>Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1810. To deal once and for all with its flooding problems, city leaders decided in the 1890s to channel rain, flood waters and sewage away from the city via a <a href="https://blogdelagua.com/actualidad/inundaciones-en-mexico/">30-mile desagüe, or drainage channel</a>. </p>
<p>Around this time, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40315074.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A92c9cb15fd681165ffef84e7676e5128">population of the capital began to explode</a>. Mexico City had 350,000 residents in 1900 and 3 million in 1950. By the <a href="http://zaloamati.azc.uam.mx/handle/11191/5077">1930s</a>, its novel sanitation system was already insufficient. Plus, residents were still using Mexico City’s many rivers for <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/entrada-de-opinion/colaboracion/mochilazo-en-el-tiempo/nacion/sociedad/2017/06/21/los-rios-de-la">washing clothes, as garbage pits and as sewers</a>. </p>
<p>In 1938, the architect Carlos Contreras proposed <a href="http://zaloamati.azc.uam.mx/handle/11191/5077">enclosing</a> three polluted rivers – the Piedad, the Consulado and the Verónica – and turning them into one giant viaduct to <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/entrada-de-opinion/colaboracion/mochilazo-en-el-tiempo/nacion/sociedad/2017/06/21/los-rios-de-la">prevent flooding, disease and death</a>. Political conditions did not allow this idea to move forward at the time, but the idea of <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/entrada-de-opinion/colaboracion/mochilazo-en-el-tiempo/nacion/sociedad/2017/06/21/los-rios-de-la">putting Mexico City’s filthy waterways into enormous pipes</a> and burying them stuck. </p>
<p>Over the following decades, rivers began to be put underground. Between 1947 and 1952 most of Mexico City’s 45 rivers were <a href="http://oa.upm.es/57891/1/TFG_20_CODERCH_CARRETERO_PAULA.pdf">channeled into giant tubes, buried and paved over</a>. Today, these rivers are visible only in the names <a href="http://zaloamati.azc.uam.mx/handle/11191/5077">of the streets that run over them</a>: Rio Mixcoac Avenue, Rio Churubusco Avenue and others.</p>
<h2>Smog bowl</h2>
<p>This system gave mid-century Mexico City enough sewer capacity, roads and buildings to serve its population. The foul smell and unsanitary conditions also diminished, because people couldn’t dump garbage into covered waterways. </p>
<p>But without its rivers, Mexico City dried up and grew dusty. And because of its geography – <a href="https://en.mxcity.mx/2016/04/mexico-citys-mountains/">located</a> on a plateau, surrounded by mountains – the dust was unable to escape. Mexico City is in a bowl that traps whatever floats in the air. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C6%2C4440%2C2967&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C6%2C4440%2C2967&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345073/original/file-20200701-13398-bqmlmo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ruins of Teotihuacan, outside Mexico City, March 19, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Mexico-Equinox-Closure/4059b21152624ee09a59daf200a6b542/12/0">AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Starting in the 1980s, the number of cars <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096669231500023X">grew into the millions</a>, trapping pollution too. Today, Mexico City is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/05/16/scary-images-mexico-citys-pollution-emergency/">notorious for its smog</a> and for the terrible <a href="https://www.iqair.com/blog/air-quality/air-pollution-particles-in-hearts">health consequences</a> pollution brings, including asthma and heart disease. </p>
<p>The coronavirus outbreak wasn’t caused by polluted air. But the city’s bad air quality – together with <a href="https://www.jornada.com.mx/2009/05/25/capital/043n1cap">overcrowding and other poverty-related factors</a> – creates the conditions for COVID-19 to severely sicken and kill more people.</p>
<p>In trying to eliminate waterborne illness, the Mexican capital ended up helping an airborne virus find more hosts. It’s an irony of history the Aztecs would surely mourn.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: A photo caption incorrectly dating Teotihuacan to the Aztec people has been corrected.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139622/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elena Delavega does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Aztecs had a shining city on a lake, with canals, causeways and aqueducts – until the Spanish came. Mexico City is still suffering the consequences of their bad public health decisions.Elena Delavega, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of MemphisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1290762020-02-12T19:13:57Z2020-02-12T19:13:57ZWhy we aren’t closing the gap: a failure to account for ‘cultural counterfactuals’<p>Australia’s 12th <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/closing-the-gap-report-2020.pdf">Closing the Gap</a> report, published yesterday, shows by most socio-economic measures Indigenous Australians continue to lag behind the rest of the population. </p>
<p>Only two of seven targets – early education and Year 12 completion rates – are on track. On the five others – child mortality, school attendance, literacy and numeracy, employment and life expectancy – there has been little or no improvement.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-process-will-better-involve-indigenous-australians-morrison-131570">'Closing the Gap' process will better involve Indigenous Australians: Morrison</a>
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<p>Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt says it’s another <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/bid-to-close-the-gap-on-indigenous-benchmarks-has-failed-20200211-p53zug.html">failure</a> of Indigenous policy in Australia. </p>
<p>The Indigenous employment rate, for example, has improved by less than a percentage point in a decade – to 49%, compared with 75% for non-Indigenous Australians. </p>
<h2>Cultural counterfactuals</h2>
<p>One of the problems with government policies for Indigenous Australians is their lack of sensitivity to cultural differences. In particular, they fail to account for Indigenous notions of value. </p>
<p>As noted in a <a href="https://www.ceda.com.au/Research-and-policy/All-CEDA-research/Research-catalogue/Disrupting-disadvantage-setting-the-scene">2019 report</a> from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia on how to break the cycle of entrenched disadvantage, there’s a lack of contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. This means public opinion and government policy evaluations are generally unaware there are different Indigenous notions of social value. </p>
<p>We call the adjustments that need to be made in policy and measurement to account for these different perceptions of value “<a href="http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/a4c38e924816519d0a9d3d2138cda74d.pdf">cultural counterfactuals</a>”. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-the-gaps-between-indigenous-and-non-indigenous-australians-arent-closing-91561">Three reasons why the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aren't closing</a>
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<p>A good example of what this looks like can be found in Peak Hill, a small town between Parkes and Dubbo in New South Wales.</p>
<p>Here <a href="https://www.maliyanhorizon.com.au/company-profile">Maliyan Horizon</a>, an Indigenous civil construction company, has been connecting people with jobs on country. </p>
<p>Creating sustainable careers for Aboriginal people in regional areas is a core business objective. The company does this through its commitment to training, upskilling and mentoring staff.</p>
<p>The company gives extra assistance, for example, to employees who have never before held a full-time job. It also consults with local traditional owners to stay in touch with the needs of the community it works in.</p>
<h2>Indigenous procurement policy</h2>
<p>The federal government’s <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/economic-development/indigenous-procurement-policy-ipp">Indigenous procurement policy</a>, on the other hand, is a good example of failing to account for cultural counterfactuals. </p>
<p>Since its introduction in 2015, this procurement policy has become one of the main government instruments to promote greater employment for Indigenous Australians. It requires all federal government agencies spend a percentage of their budgets with Indigenous enterprises.</p>
<p>According to the third-year evaluation of the policy by Deloitte Consulting, <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/third-year-evaluation-indigenous-procurement-policy.pdf">published in December 2019</a>, the policy is a success by one key performance indicator – the number of Indigenous enterprises contracted to the Commonwealth government – and an “outstanding success” by the other – the number and value of contracts awarded to Indigenous enterprises. The report says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Currently, Commonwealth procurement is exceeding the target by 4.1 percentage points (7.1% compared to 3.0%). In respect of providing genuine and sustainable economic opportunities for Indigenous businesses there is room for improvement as the above-mentioned 5.0% of total contracts issued equates to 1.5% of the value of those contracts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But do Indigenous communities see it the same way? </p>
<h2>IPP evaluation</h2>
<p>Deloitte’s report has many good qualities. It makes useful recommendations. It doesn’t ignore problems like <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/99579-delayed-action-minister-cracks-down-on-companies-gaming-the-indigenous-procurement-policy/">black cladding</a> – where businesses employ Indigenous staff just to qualify for a government contract but have no commitment to providing stable long-term jobs.</p>
<p>But there is one fatal flaw.</p>
<p>Deloitte’s evaluation process involved focus groups with the owners and managers of Indigenous businesses. But the employees, the people supposed to be the beneficiaries of the policy, weren’t included. </p>
<p>This should be considered a major flaw in any policy evaluation. It assumes economic benefits from business will trickle down to communities. There is <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/148675/1/CAEPR-WP-GROWTH-PUBLISH.pdf">little evidence</a> to prove it. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-we-moved-the-goalposts-on-indigenous-policies-so-they-reflect-indigenous-values-112282">It's time we moved the goalposts on Indigenous policies, so they reflect Indigenous values</a>
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<p>One of the evaluation’s recommendations is to use a measure called social return on investment (SROI) for contracts greater than A$4 million. This highly controversial idea attempts to reduce social policy impacts to a <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-ambitions-and-challenges-of-SROI-Arvidson-Lyon/4a1fb2e9e40a1a317a4fe40eb5b2facc1b0913fc">monetary value</a>. It has been criticised for glossing over <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00346760050204328?casa_token=rRtKrBIQ8xIAAAAA:zgwH7th6bFV--Nop6JbIm07CWvlx2Wy-Nv_8rQr47IAZSLIJRKXORDAufUgIhPlFKuti4Ht60Mrm">social and cultural</a> complexities in its attempt to calculate a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273866377_SROI_as_a_Method_for_Evaluation_Research_Understanding_Merits_and_Limitations">single financial value</a>. </p>
<h2>Towards more effective evaluations</h2>
<p>Policies for Indigenous people should involve consulting Indigenous people to better reflect and prioritise Indigenous cultural knowledge and experiences. So should evaluations of those policies.</p>
<p>It’s crazy to not account for the perspectives of the people those policies are designed for. </p>
<p>Without more attention to cultural counterfactuals, Indigenous Australians will continue to be <a href="https://www.policyforum.net/indigenous-australians-arent-the-issue/">misrepresented</a>. And Indigenous policies will continue to fail.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Loosemore receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Denny-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Policies for Indigenous Australians must better reflect and prioritise Indigenous cultural values.George Denny-Smith, Research associate, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, UNSW SydneyMartin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1122822019-05-27T19:41:28Z2019-05-27T19:41:28ZIt’s time we moved the goalposts on Indigenous policies, so they reflect Indigenous values<p>Adelaide football great Eddie Betts was just 15 when he moved to Melbourne from Port Lincoln, South Australia, to pursue his AFL career. Hawthorn legend Cyril Rioli was 14 when he left his family in Darwin.</p>
<p>They are among many Indigenous players in Australian football who have covered great distances – moving thousands of kilometres, often as teenagers, for a shot at the big time. </p>
<p>Not all make it. Sometimes the separation from kin and culture is too much.</p>
<p>It’s not just a predicament for those with a chance to be a sporting star. Many Indigenous people in regional and remote Australia face a hard choice between their mob and a job.</p>
<p>What price would you put on leaving your family, community and other things you value? How good would a job have to be to make it worthwhile?</p>
<p>This is a dilemma for those who make and administer the policies and programs intended to “close the gap” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. </p>
<p>Indigenous people don’t necessarily see the <a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/viewFile/492/492">benefits of working</a> being worth the required costs the same way as non-Indigenous people.
Any policy that doesn’t account for this crucial human factor is probably doomed to fail. </p>
<h2>Indigenous procurement policies</h2>
<p>We’re studying how unacknowledged cultural differences shape the effectiveness of government programs and policies in the context of Indigenous procurement policies. </p>
<p>Our focus is the construction industry, because it is one of the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/142C08A784A1B5C0CA2581BF001EE22C?OpenDocument">largest employers</a> of Indigenous Australians. The federal government has also committed <a href="https://www.budget.gov.au/2018-19/content/sections/overview/downloads/Budget_2018-19_Budget_Overview.pdf">A$75 billion</a> in to building transport infrastructure investment over the next decade. This makes the sector especially important to Indigenous employment.</p>
<p>Indigenous procurement policies involve governments requiring private-sector suppliers and contractors to employ a minimum number of Indigenous workers on their projects.</p>
<p>They are increasingly being used by local, state and federal governments, in preference to approaches such as directly subsidising jobs, such as occurred under the old <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/publications-articles/corporate-publications/budget-and-additional-estimates-statements/indigenous-affairs-budget-2007-08/community-development-employment-projects-cdep-programme-continuation-of-funding">Community Development Employment Projects</a> scheme.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/indigenous_procurement_policy.pdf">Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy</a> (IPP) requires at least 4% of the workforce deployed on a contract, and 3% of the workforce of the contractor, be Indigenous. Government departments have to meet contract targets to satisfy performance requirements. </p>
<p>The policy is so far regarded as a success, because it has <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/economic-development/indigenous-procurement-policy-ipp">exceeded initial targets</a>. Under “<a href="https://www.governmentnews.com.au/govt-buyers-face-new-indigenous-procurement-requirements/">IPP 2.0</a>” there will be a further target – that 3% of the financial value of federal contracts go to Indigenous businesses by 2027.</p>
<p>Good intentions drive such procurement policies. The <a href="https://ctgreport.pmc.gov.au/employment">Indigenous employment rate</a> is barely 48%, compared to 72% for non-Indigenous Australians of working age. The government set a target ten years ago to halve the gap. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269246/original/file-20190415-147514-1dsieu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Employment rates adjusted to exclude participants employed under the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) program, while including all CDEP participants in the underlying population count. The CDEP program no longer existed in 2016, so no estimate is shown.</span>
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</figure>
<hr>
<p>But any Indigenous jobs policy is flawed if it doesn’t grapple with the cultural problem of someone having to move “off country” and be separated from his or her community for an extended period. </p>
<p>Policies need to appreciate the importance of connection to country and kin in Indigenous culture. They cannot assume an equal commitment to the hegemonic values of individualism and materialism.</p>
<h2>Evaluating success</h2>
<p>We have been talking to people in Indigenous communities and organisations to better understand the personal experience of procurement policies. </p>
<p>Appreciating both positive and negative impacts has important implications for governments wanting to properly evaluate the true social value of the policies.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C467%2C1004&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260536/original/file-20190224-195870-bbu6gr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A three-year performance snapshot of the Commonwealth IPP. The construction industry is one of the top contributors to the IPP’s mandatory minimum requirements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/news-centre/indigenous-affairs/ipp-billion-dollar-success-set-continue">Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 2019</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The federal government has <a href="https://pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/ias-evaluation-framework.pdf">evaluation guidelines</a>, which recommend involving stakeholders using participatory approaches. But the risk of miscalculating <a href="http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/a4c38e924816519d0a9d3d2138cda74d.pdf">the social value</a> created by Indigenous procurement policies is increased when an Indigenous sense of social value is not reflected in the contract targets and financial values that measure policy success.</p>
<p>There’s a risk of putting limited resources into the wrong initiatives, not the ones that create real value for Indigenous Australians. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/99579-delayed-action-minister-cracks-down-on-companies-gaming-the-indigenous-procurement-policy/">already concern</a> Indigenous procurement policies have mostly benefited a small group of Indigenous business people and their partners. Last year the federal minister for Indigenous affairs, Nigel Scullion, ordered a crackdown on sham arrangements to exploit the system (a practice known as “black cladding”).</p>
<p>What good is a policy that fails on many human levels yet gets counted as a success?</p>
<p>Not that there has been a lot of measurable successes.</p>
<p>A decade ago the Australian government set the target of halving the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employment rates. </p>
<p>The deadline has come and gone. Virtually “<a href="https://ctgreport.pmc.gov.au/employment">no progress</a>” has been made on this or other <a href="http://ctgreport.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2019.pdf?a=1">Closing The Gap</a> targets.</p>
<p>It’s clear we need a new paradigm to evaluate Indigenous policies and programs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Loosemore receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Denny-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous procurement policies are kicking goals, but who for?George Denny-Smith, Scientia PhD Researcher, UNSW SydneyMartin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1017282018-08-28T20:18:36Z2018-08-28T20:18:36ZThe Indigenous employment gap is widening and we don’t know how to fix it<p>The <a href="https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/executive-summary">Closing the Gap</a> framework sought to halve the employment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, among other targets. But the employment target expired unmet <a href="https://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2018.pdf">this year</a>. </p>
<p>In remote parts of Australia, the gap has actually <a href="http://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2018/6/CAEPR_Census_Paper_5_2018_0.pdf">widened</a> since 2011. </p>
<p>Governments have relied on a series of employment programs to tackle the employment gap, but these have not yielded positive outcomes. Before the new program <a href="https://www.budget.gov.au/2018-19/content/bp2/download/bp2_combined.pdf">starts in 2019</a> we need more evidence of what does and doesn’t work.</p>
<p>There has been no robust evaluation of the last two employment programs. Evidence of what does work might help us finally start closing the gap. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-missing-the-closing-the-gap-employment-target-by-decades-91648">Australia is missing the Closing the Gap employment target by decades</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Although the median Indigenous income <a href="http://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/CAEPR_Census_Paper_2.pdf">has improved</a> overall, the income gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-not-closing-the-gap-on-indigenous-employment-its-widening-89302">also growing</a>, particularly in remote areas. </p>
<p>This is a concerning trend and does not align with <a href="https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/closing-the-gap-report-2018">government narratives</a> around reducing Indigenous disadvantage. </p>
<h2>Employment programs</h2>
<p>Since the Community Development Employment Projects scheme began to be rolled back in <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/bh(1).pdf">2007</a> (before it was later abolished), a series of other programs operated in remote communities. </p>
<p>These have included the Job Network, Job Services Australia, the Remote Jobs and Communities Program and the current <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/employment/community-development-programme-cdp">Community Development Programme</a>. </p>
<p>The standard approach of these programs has been to increase pressure on jobseekers to participate in “work-for-the-dole” (for example, through increased participation hours), and mete out financial penalties when jobseekers fail to abide by the program rules. </p>
<p>In this way, it’s hoped programs can somehow <em>push</em> jobseekers into employment. </p>
<p>The four programs are very similar in terms of their modes of delivery, funding structures and core components. However, they also differ in important ways. </p>
<p>For example, although Job Network and Job Services Australia included graduated support for more severely disadvantaged jobseekers, this was removed from the Remote Jobs and Communities Program and Community Development Programme. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/were-not-closing-the-gap-on-indigenous-employment-its-widening-89302">We're not closing the gap on Indigenous employment, it's widening</a>
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<p>Funding for broader community development (to create more jobs) that existed under the Remote Jobs and Communities Program was also dramatically reduced under the Community Development Programme. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Finance_and_Public_Administration/CDP/Report">Many</a>, including program providers, participants, Indigenous leaders, and academics, have <a href="https://www.whitlam.org/publications/rethinking-australias-employment-services">argued</a> this approach <a href="http://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/CAEPR_Topical_Issues_2_2016_0.pdf">oversimplifies</a> the challenges involved in improving remote employment. </p>
<p>For example, employment programs haven’t adequately addressed structural barriers to gaining employment, such as the <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au">availability of jobs</a> and the long term effects of poorer <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=070995750909473;res=IELAPA">educational</a> attainment, health and well-being. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, robust evidence concerning outcomes and impacts of these recent programs is scarce. </p>
<p>Evaluations of <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/job_network_evaluation_stage_three_effectiveness_report.pdf">Job Network</a> and <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/servicing_indigenous_job_seekers_in_job_services_australia.pdf">Job Services Australia</a> were undertaken, but they were not independent, and had methodological problems. </p>
<p>This meant they could not reliably distinguish program effects from other factors that may have also influenced results. Even so, the evaluations only uncovered minimal evidence of positive outcomes. </p>
<p>The subsequent program – the <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/indigenous/remote-jobs/CDF_Guidelines_v1_1.PDF">Remote Jobs and Communities Program</a> (2013–2015) – was not evaluated at all. </p>
<h2>More harm than good?</h2>
<p>The Community Development Programme (2015–present) has been subject to a number of reviews, including by the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Finance_and_Public_Administration/CDP/Report">Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration</a> and the <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">Australian National Audit Office</a>. </p>
<p>These reviews, and other <a href="http://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/CAEPR_Topical_Issues_2_2016_0.pdf">research</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-02/work-for-the-dole-cdp-scheme-costly-failure-harming-people/9714522">commentary</a>, have pointed to anecdotal evidence the Community Development Programme has caused harm. </p>
<p>For example, inflexible program rules have resulted in <a href="http://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/CAEPR_Topical_Issues_2_2016_0.pdf">disproportionate</a> <a href="https://17-jobsaust.cdn.aspedia.net/sites/default/files/cdp_penalties_-_september_update.pdf">fines</a> being imposed. This has hurt income stability and <a href="http://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/CAEPR_Topical_Issues_2_2016_0.pdf">food security</a> for some jobseekers, many of whom are already living in circumstances of disadvantage. </p>
<p>An independent evaluation of the Community Development Programme is currently <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">under way</a>. However, despite the evaluation being planned for completion in <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Finance_and_Public_Administration/CDP/%7E/media/Committees/fapa_ctte/CDP/report.pdf">mid-2018</a>, no findings have been publicly released.</p>
<p>The Community Development Programme evaluation design was only developed and signed off between <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">seven and 10 months</a> after the program was implemented (rather than forming part of the program design). </p>
<p>This contradicts <a href="https://pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/ias-evaluation-framework.pdf">one of the best practice principles</a> for evaluation in Indigenous affairs. There was also no consideration of the initial design by an evaluation <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">reference group</a>. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/%7E/media/Committees/fapa_ctte/estimates/add_1617/pmc/pm103.pdf">Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet</a>, the evaluation is supposed to “assess early signs of impact and explore what works for who and in what circumstances”.</p>
<p>However, aside from some information regarding the <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">types</a> of <a href="https://pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/ias-evaluation-workplan.pdf">data</a> being used, the exact methods used in the evaluation are unclear. </p>
<p>In particular, it’s <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">unclear</a> how or whether the evaluation will be able to isolate the impacts of the Community Development Programme.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eight-ways-we-can-improve-indigenous-employment-60377">Eight ways we can improve Indigenous employment</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A <a href="https://www.budget.gov.au/2018-19/content/bp2/download/bp2_combined.pdf">new program</a> is planned to replace the Community Development Programme from 1 February 2019. Ideally, the evaluation findings would have been available to inform ongoing consultation. </p>
<p>But most of this consultation has now already taken place. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth government has <a href="https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/g/files/net4981/f/ANAO_Report_2017-2018_14a.pdf">committed</a> to improving the evidence base in Indigenous affairs. It has highlighted the importance of achieving greater <a href="https://pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/ias-evaluation-framework.pdf">transparency</a> in the public release of evaluation reports (in line with similar calls <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/supporting/better-indigenous-policies/07-better-indigenous-policies-chapter5.pdf">elsewhere</a>) and also made moves to appoint an <a href="http://sjm.ministers.treasury.gov.au/media-release/029-2018/">Indigenous Commissioner</a> to the Productivity Commission.</p>
<p>These are positive steps. But the Commonwealth must hold itself to the same standards as it seeks to hold others. </p>
<p>Rigorous, well designed evaluation is important in informing future policy-making, and developing a stronger evidence base for strategies that hold true potential for closing the remote employment gap. Monitoring and evaluation are also important for ensuring programs intended to reduce disadvantage do not, instead, exacerbate it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Staines consults to the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership.</span></em></p>Governments have relied on a series of employment programs to tackle the employment gap, but these have not yielded positive outcomes.Zoe Staines, Research Consultant; Research Assistant, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/926682018-03-05T00:15:18Z2018-03-05T00:15:18ZThree charts on: the changing status of Indigenous Australians<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208601/original/file-20180302-65522-6ntjxk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In each survey or census, people are asked to identify if they are Indigenous.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new dataset <a href="http://abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/2080.0Main%20Features12011-2016?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=2080.0&issue=2011-2016&num=&view=">has shed fresh light</a> on the changing socioeconomic status of Indigenous Australians. It shows that what appears to be slow progress or steady outcomes for the whole population may be masking worsening results.</p>
<p>This stems from how the Indigenous population is counted in the census and in surveys, and how that identification might change over time.</p>
<p>In each survey or census, people are asked to indicate if they are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. If they move in or out of the group classified as Indigenous, then this can appear in the aggregate as if people’s life-chances are changing. Rather, this may be an artefact of the group’s changing composition.</p>
<h2>Flows into and out of the Indigenous population</h2>
<p>Between 2011 and 2016, the best estimate of the Indigenous population grew by 128,500, or around 19%. This was due to a greater number of births than deaths, but also partly due to changes in how people were identified (either by themselves or others) as being of Indigenous origin.</p>
<p>There are many good reasons why Indigenous people may choose not to disclose their ancestry. These are often of a highly personal nature, especially given Australia’s history of discrimination against Indigenous people. </p>
<p>A decision to identify as Indigenous (or not) in the census should not be interpreted as a reflection on someone’s Indigenous identity, which is a separate matter from what box gets ticked on a census form. But the box-ticking does inform the government’s understanding of the Indigenous population – including monitoring progress against <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-the-gaps-between-indigenous-and-non-indigenous-australians-arent-closing-91561">Closing the Gap targets</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-reasons-why-the-gaps-between-indigenous-and-non-indigenous-australians-arent-closing-91561">Three reasons why the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aren't closing</a>
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<p>Using the data, we can identify three groups of Indigenous people in the 2011 and 2016 censuses:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the “always identified” - those who identified as Indigenous in both censuses;</p></li>
<li><p>the “formerly identified” – those who identified as Indigenous in the 2011 census but not the 2016 census; and</p></li>
<li><p>the “newly identified” – those who did not identify as Indigenous in the 2011 census, but who did identify as such in the 2016 census.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The figure below gives our best estimate of the flows that constitute these populations, and estimated births and deaths over the period.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208420/original/file-20180301-152552-kr3kl1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous population flows, 2011-2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors/Australian Bureau of Statistics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The largest of these three groups is the 572,400 people who identified as being of Indigenous origin in both the 2011 and 2016 censuses. This is the population we usually think about when analysing and interpreting Indigenous socioeconomic and demographic change.</p>
<p>However, two other groups were also quite large. There were 45,000 people in Australia who identified as Indigenous in the 2011 Census, but who didn’t identify as such in the 2016 Census. While this is a large number relative to the 2011 population estimate, the newly identified number is larger still (129,600). </p>
<p>The net increase from identification change was therefore estimated to be 84,600. This is equivalent to 13.7% of the Indigenous population in 2011.</p>
<h2>The geography of identification change</h2>
<p>The vast majority of those who changed how they identified their Indigenous origins in the census lived in urban parts of Australia in 2011. There are significant differences in the level of change in each of Australia’s eight states and territories. </p>
<p><iframe id="SL1j3" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SL1j3/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Changing answers to the census question on Indigenous origin had a particularly pronounced impact on Indigenous population estimates in three jurisdictions – Victoria (21.5%), the Australian Capital Territory (20.9%), and New South Wales (20.8%). </p>
<p>However, because NSW had a relatively large Indigenous population in 2011 relative to Victoria and the ACT, net identification change in that state made up 48% of the total identification change. This is almost double the next greatest contribution – Queensland, which contributed 24.3%.</p>
<p>This may have implications for the distribution of GST revenue between the states and territories.</p>
<h2>The relationship between socioeconomic and demographic change</h2>
<p>Changes to the way people answer the census question on Indigenous origin has the potential to impact on the understanding of change in Indigenous socioeconomic outcomes. </p>
<p>If those who newly identified in the census had higher relative socioeconomic status before their identification changed, then this will tend to bias upward any measured change in socioeconomic outcomes.</p>
<p>Looking at all Indigenous adults aged 15 years and above at the time of each census, the employment rate in 2011 was 49.7%, while for the same measure in 2016 it was 50.4%. </p>
<p>If we only used repeated cross-sections, we would think that Indigenous employment is improving, albeit relatively slowly. But when we look at the employment rates using the linked population, a very different picture emerges.</p>
<p><iframe id="Jg8vz" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Jg8vz/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The employment rate for “always identifiers” was 49.6% in 2011 and 48.7% in 2016. So, there was actually <em>worsening</em> employment outcomes between 2011 and 2016 for this group, rather than the small increase that might be concluded from looking at the two censuses separately.</p>
<h2>The complexity of identification change</h2>
<p>Changes to the way people answer the census question on Indigenous origin not only changes official estimates of the size of the Indigenous population – it also changes the composition. </p>
<p>Compared to those previously identified in the census, those who are newly identified are more likely to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>be young;</p></li>
<li><p>live in NSW, Victoria or ACT; </p></li>
<li><p>likely to live in a major city;</p></li>
<li><p>be employed; </p></li>
<li><p>live in higher-income households; and </p></li>
<li><p>have higher rates of education.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The data do not tell us anything about the content or meaning of Indigenous identity, or who is or isn’t Indigenous. These data do not suggest changing identification in the census in any way leads to an improvement in outcomes, nor is that the motivation for people’s identification to change. </p>
<p>Rather, there are a range of social and familial reasons why some people may change their identification in the census. And the person who filled out a census form on behalf of someone in 2011 might be different to the person who filled out the form in 2016. </p>
<p>There should not be any intervention to reduce identification change; in fact it should be seen as a positive development. But identification change must always be always kept in mind when assessing the progress toward targets related to Indigenous Australians like Closing the Gap.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92668/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Biddle works for a Centre that has and continues to receive funding from the Commonwealth Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Aboriginal Affairs NSW.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francis Markham's research centre has received funding from the Commonwealth Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and a number of relevant State/Territory agencies and Indigenous organisations.
</span></em></p>What may appear to be slow progress or steady outcomes for the whole Indigenous population may be masking worsening results.Nicholas Biddle, Associate Professor, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityFrancis Markham, Research Fellow, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/590622016-06-07T20:23:07Z2016-06-07T20:23:07ZElection 2016: the issues in non-metropolitan Australia<p>Rural and regional Australia is a big place. That’s obvious enough. Still, it’s easy to forget that the communities and industries of non-metropolitan Australia are diverse. They face a variety of challenges and often have different, if not competing, stakes in government policy. </p>
<p>But what are the issues that deserve attention leading up to the 2016 federal election? While not everyone living in rural and regional Australia will see eye-to-eye on how these issues should be resolved, I will return to this list closer to election day to see just how many have made their way onto the national political agenda.</p>
<h2>Infrastructure</h2>
<p>Government investments in transport, energy, telecommunications and water infrastructure are fundamental to the productivity of rural and regional industries. </p>
<p>Made well, these investments can enhance economic and social participation, minimise negative environmental impacts, and support adaptation to climate variability and change.</p>
<p>It follows that, when it comes to evaluating the case for public investment, one eye needs to be on the business case while the other needs to be on the potential for social and environmental co-benefits. This is where most of the issues listed below come into play. </p>
<h2>Unemployment</h2>
<p>Nationally, unemployment rates in non-metropolitan Australia are similar to those in the capital cities. However, rural and regional labour markets are volatile, with extremely high unemployment in particular locales. Place-specific strategies to assist these locales deserve consideration.</p>
<p>The loss of over <a href="https://docs.employment.gov.au/documents/australian-jobs-2015-publication">55,000 mining jobs</a> nationally since late 2012 hit a number of regional cities hard. In <a href="https://www.employment.gov.au/small-area-labour-markets-publication">Mackay</a>, unemployment rose from 11.7% to 18.9% in 2015. In <a href="https://www.employment.gov.au/small-area-labour-markets-publication">Muswellbrook</a>, it went from 9.8% to 14.9%. The sector is expected to shed another 31,900 jobs by late 2020.</p>
<p>Other non-metropolitan regions experience particularly high youth unemployment. In March 2016, <a href="http://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/LFR_SAFOUR">young people aged 15-24 were unemployed</a> at rates of 31.3% in western Queensland, 22.3% in Cairns, 19.7% on the NSW mid-north coast and 19.5% in the Hunter Valley. The national average for this age group was 12.2%. For all workers the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6202.0Main%20Features2Apr%202016?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6202.0&issue=Apr%202016&num=&view=">unemployment rate was 5.7%</a>.</p>
<p>Nowhere in the country, though, are unemployment levels higher than in predominantly Indigenous townships like <a href="https://www.employment.gov.au/small-area-labour-markets-publication">Aurukun, Palm Island and Yarrabah</a>. Unemployment today in these former forced relocation sites hovers above 50%. That’s nearly three times the already <a href="https://theconversation.com/eight-ways-we-can-improve-indigenous-employment-60377">high national unemployment rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people</a>.</p>
<h2>Diversification and new economy jobs</h2>
<p>Changing workforce profiles mean that growth in the value of traditional rural and regional industries won’t necessarily solve the problem of unemployment.</p>
<p>Agricultural produce <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/0/58529ACD49B5ECE0CA2577A000154456?Opendocument">recorded an increase in value</a> between 2010-11 and 2014-15 of about 13%, or A$6 billion. Over roughly the same period, though, <a href="https://docs.employment.gov.au/documents/australian-jobs-2015-publication">agriculture, forestry and fisheries shed nearly 40,000 jobs</a>. Another 9,400 jobs are expected to go by late 2020. Innovation is driving improvements across many aspects of primary production, including labour productivity.</p>
<p>The same pattern is likely to be replicated in mining. Even if we assume a recovery in mineral and energy markets, we must equally assume that investment in labour-saving technology will continue to rise. </p>
<p>Innovations in remote sensing, ITC and robotics will enable the <a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-red-dust-and-the-future-of-mining-towns-5814">automation of more and more jobs</a> on site, favouring a concentration of operational jobs in metropolitan control centres. </p>
<p>By contrast, jobs in health care and social assistance and professional, scientific and technical services <a href="https://docs.employment.gov.au/documents/australian-jobs-2015-publication">grew 20.3%</a> nationally in the five years to November 2015. More than one-third of healthcare and social assistance employees (more than half-a-million people) are located in non-metropolitan regions. Of these, 45% work part-time and 79% are women. </p>
<p>Other human service industries, such as education and training, are also significant and growing regional employers.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, only 18% of professional, scientific and technical services employees (184,200 people) work regionally. Of these, 22% are part-time and 40% are women. </p>
<p>The national shift to professional, scientific and technical services is helping compensate for declining employment in traditionally male, blue-collar industries like manufacturing. However, the benefits of a rapidly growing professional and scientific workforce are concentrated in the major cities. This needs to change. </p>
<p>Both existing industries and industries of the future require access to high-level scientific and technical expertise. The more such expertise can be nurtured within non-metropolitan areas the better placed they will be to sustain their competitiveness, participate in the knowledge economy and diversify employment opportunities.</p>
<h2>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/3238.0.55.001June%202011?OpenDocument">Two-thirds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians</a> live in rural and regional areas. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Closing_the_Gap_2015_Report.pdf">Closing the Gap</a> reports demonstrate little progress against commitments to do so something about the disadvantage many experience. I will focus here on two issues with particularly direct implications for economic and social participation: incarceration and native title.</p>
<p>The rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait people <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/overcoming-indigenous-disadvantage">were imprisoned</a> rose 57.4% between 2000 and 2013, while the rate for non-Indigenous Australians remained steady. This suggests multiple policy failures related both directly and indirectly to the criminal justice system. </p>
<p>By contrast, the last decade has also seen multiple native title determinations. More than one-third of the Australian land mass is either <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/26/indigenous-australia-is-open-for-business-but-we-need-investment-to-realise-our-potential">owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander</a> peoples or has those peoples’ interests formally recognised. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-white-paper-a-game-changer-for-northern-australia-43458">Indigenous Ranger programs</a> have proven extremely promising as means to care for these lands and create meaningful employment opportunities. The opportunity to utilise native title assets to build businesses and yet more jobs is immense. Realising that opportunity will require genuine partnerships with native title rights holders and creative approaches to investment. </p>
<h2>Health, education and social services</h2>
<p>Coupled with unemployment, inadequate access to services is a key dimension of <a href="http://ruralhealth.org.au/documents/publicseminars/2013_Sep/Joint-report.pdf">rural disadvantage</a>. </p>
<p>It is no secret that access to services such as health and education diminishes the further you get from capital cities. The cost of delivery goes up and the task of recruiting high-quality staff gets harder. </p>
<p>The situation may not be so bad in large regional centres, but in rural and remote locales it is estimated that <a href="http://ruralhealth.org.au/sites/default/files/publications/fact-sheet-27-election2016-13-may-2016.pdf">lack of access</a> to GPs, dentists, pharmacies and other primary health facilities results in about 60,000 preventable hospitalisations every year. The National Rural Health Alliance identifies access to mental health, dental health, Medicare Locals, aged care and Indigenous health as urgent priorities. </p>
<h2>Climate change</h2>
<p>Almost certainly, climate change will prove a <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/PDF/SAF07/social%20and%20political%20context.pdf">major disruptive force for agriculture</a> and other rural industries. Existing strategies for dealing with climatic variability will help land managers adapt to low levels of temperature rise. As climate change intensifies, though, they will need to consider more fundamental shifts in land use. </p>
<p>Just as importantly, global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could increase the cost of fossil-fuel-based inputs or create barriers to the sale of produce seen as emissions-intensive. </p>
<p>Rural industries will need to work with government and research institutions to reduce their emissions, adapt to changing environments and develop new income streams.</p>
<h2>Natural resource management</h2>
<p>The environmental impacts of rural land use attract consistent media and political interest. Land clearing, habitat loss, damage to iconic ecosystems, water allocations etc make regular front-page news. </p>
<p>Natural resource management policy has been most successful when it has been less about penalising land users and more about long-term collaboration in support of environmentally and economically sustainable use. </p>
<p>For several electoral cycles, however, natural resource management programs have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/another-broken-promise-budget-switches-landcare-for-green-army-26818">renamed, reprioritised and/or replaced</a>. Regardless of the merits or limitations of individual programs, rural and regional Australia needs a return to coherent and stable resource management policy.</p>
<h2>Agriculture</h2>
<p>Agriculture utilises <a href="http://www.acola.org.au/PDF/SAF07/social%20and%20political%20context.pdf">more than half the land mass</a> and contributes more to the economic vitality of Australia than most people appreciate. Despite decades of declining terms of trade and periods of intense drought, the productivity and value of agriculture have continued to outperform many other parts of the economy. </p>
<p>At the same time, however, thousands of farmers have been forced out of the industry. Fewer people than ever are taking on farming as an occupation.</p>
<p>It is no longer reasonable to expect agriculture alone to support vibrant rural and regional communities. It is reasonable, though, to position Australian agriculture to capitalise on population and income growth in the Asia-Pacific region. </p>
<p>Policy needs both an eye to this potential and a sensitivity to the very real challenges those in the sector face.</p>
<h2>To the election</h2>
<p>Already in this campaign, a handful of non-metropolitan electorates and issues have attracted attention. It will be interesting to see if former independent MP Tony Windsor can pick off Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-top-dog-to-underdog-tony-windsors-fight-in-new-england-59447">in New England</a>, but the dynamics here tell us little about what is going on in rural and regional electorates more generally.</p>
<p>The Great Barrier Reef has emerged as one of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-election-is-our-last-chance-to-save-the-great-barrier-reef-59381">more prominent election issues</a> so far. Politicians of all hues have been visiting North Queensland to announce or defend natural resource and climate policies relevant to its health. </p>
<p>The audience for these announcements is probably more national than local. Electorates within the Great Barrier Reef catchment have lost numerous mining jobs and voters there will be just as keen to know the plan for employment growth. Can <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-will-the-barrier-reef-recover-from-the-death-of-one-third-of-its-northern-corals-60186">reef health</a> and employment growth be reconciled?</p>
<p>I’ll comment more on how these issues are playing out closer to election day on July 2. A month is a long long time in politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stewart Lockie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Council of Learned Academies.</span></em></p>What are the issues facing rural and regional Australia? The challenges are many and varied – and only some have made the national political agenda – but these areas deserve better than neglect.Stewart Lockie, Director, The Cairns Institute, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/314802014-09-18T22:34:59Z2014-09-18T22:34:59ZIndigenous Australians need a licence to drive, but also to work<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59342/original/nqfzjrtr-1411003445.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than one in ten Indigenous Australian adults report having trouble getting around – and current licensing rules don't help.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-155726702/stock-photo-derby-australia-june-red-desert-in-kimberley-on-june-in-derby-located-in-western.html?src=cvStcxMhsKckwi9Hbk13KA-1-9">ZRyzner/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Tony Abbott <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-20/arnhem-land-leaders-call-for-an-end-to-poison-welfare/5758040">spent most of this week in North East Arnhem Land</a>, part of his <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/abbott-calls-for-new-era-of-engagement-with-indigenous-australia-20130810-2rony.html">long-held hope</a> “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories does the PM need to hear?</em></p>
<p>Getting a licence and driving a car is something many of us take for granted. But for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in some parts of Australia, getting a driver licence can be a major challenge. And breaching the conditions or simply failing to pay fines can result in licence suspension or even jail time.</p>
<p>More than 70% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote locations <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/lookup/4704.0Chapter960Oct+2010">have no public transport</a>. And more than one in ten Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian adults <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10737418955">report</a> not being able to, or often having difficulty, getting where they need to be. </p>
<p>Yet access to transport is essential for employment. Transport also provides the means to access education, health care and other essential services, as well as important social interactions. </p>
<h2>Barriers to licensing</h2>
<p>High crash and fatality rates among young people have <a href="http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/userfiles/ccoch/file/Safety_on_the_road/CD003300.pdf">led to the development</a> of graduated licensing laws for new drivers. </p>
<p>But while the laws improve safety and are successfully <a href="http://www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2011/nichd-04.htm">driving crash rates down</a>, they also create significant barriers to licensing. New drivers must pass multiple tests and accumulate up to 120 hours of supervised driving practice during the learner phase. </p>
<p>These laws have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal people, who can face <a href="http://www.lowitja.org.au/aboriginal-people-travelling-well">a number of barriers</a> to getting a driver licence, including difficulty accessing identification documents, low levels of literacy and numeracy, the various costs associated with the graduated licensing system, lack of access to a car and a supervising driver, as well as outstanding debt.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59347/original/qqy5whjx-1411004278.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Licensing is critical for mobility but maintaining safety on the road is equally important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rustystewart/895677525">Rusty Stewart/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In New South Wales, Aboriginal people are <a href="http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/News/Improving-legal-and-safe-driving-among-Aboriginal-people">more likely</a> to fail the driver knowledge test than non-Aboriginal people. And they are three times as likely to lose their driver licence due to fine default.</p>
<p>Although data are scarce in most states, <a href="http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/News/Improving-legal-and-safe-driving-among-Aboriginal-people">driver licensing rates</a> are low: Aboriginal people represent only 0.4% of all driver licence holders in NSW but make up 1.9% of the eligible driver population. </p>
<h2>Imprisonment for driving offences</h2>
<p>Driving without a licence can quickly lead to jail, and Aboriginal people are over-represented in driver licensing-related incarceration. In New South Wales, Aboriginal people <a href="http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/News/Improving-legal-and-safe-driving-among-Aboriginal-people">found guilty</a> of a “driver licence” offence are imprisoned at two to three times the rate for non-Aboriginal people.</p>
<p>It has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/courts-harsher-on-aboriginal-driving-offences/story-e6frg97x-1226498839183">been suggested</a> that this is due to fines issued to unemployed people who are unable to pay them, and that such sentencing is unduly harsh, and out of line with community expectations. </p>
<p>The NSW coroner <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-11/nsw-coroner-finds-stanley-lord-died-of-natural-causes/5737060">last week ruled</a> on the death of an Aboriginal man in custody who was imprisoned for licensing offences. The coroner found he died of natural causes, but suggested it was understandable that the man would drive while unlicensed due to the long period of disqualification and lack of alternative transport. </p>
<p>Driver licences can also be cancelled due to other, <a href="http://www.sdro.nsw.gov.au/fines/ea/rms.php">non road-related fines</a>, such as not having a train ticket, or having an unregistered dog. These fines can quickly accumulate and, if unpaid, can lead to the cancellation of the driver licence. </p>
<h2>The solutions</h2>
<p>There are a number of initiatives aimed at helping people with unpaid debt and others that assist people through the licensing process. In NSW, for instance, the <a href="http://www.sdro.nsw.gov.au/fines/eo/wdo.php">Office of State Revenue</a> has instituted work and development orders that allow eligible clients to reduce their fines via unpaid work. </p>
<p>Other programs exist to support Aboriginal people through the licensing process. These include the Northern Territory’s <a href="http://www.transport.nt.gov.au/mvr/driver-training-and-licensing/drivesafe-nt-remote">DriveSafe</a> remote driver licensing program and the Queensland government’s <a href="http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Community-and-environment/Indigenous-programs/Indigenous-driver-licensing-program.aspx">Indigenous Driver Licensing Program</a>. These state government programs deliver licensing and registry services but do not address debt management.</p>
<p>In NSW, licensing programs for Aboriginal people include community-based services delivered by <a href="http://birrang.com.au/driver-education/">Birrang enterprises</a> and <a href="http://www.acecolleges.edu.au/community-projects/p/1117#a5">Ace Community Colleges</a>. These programs deliver real benefits to their communities in terms of licences and employment outcomes.</p>
<p>Our team is currently implementing and evaluating <a href="http://www.drivingchange.com.au/">Driving Change</a>, a community-based Aboriginal driver licensing support program, across 12 sites in NSW. This end-to-end program delivers a range of services, from assistance with identification documents, to debt management and learner driver mentor services.</p>
<p>But while end-to-end licensing programs deliver the <a href="http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/cb4472004326d857a5e1ef0aafe4bbfc/Supporting+Aboriginal+People+to+Obtain+and+Retain+Driver+Licences+-+a+Literature+Review-PH%26CS-SRS-20140305.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=cb4472004326d857a5e1ef0aafe4bbfc">most significant benefits</a> to individuals and communities, they are also the most costly to run, at A$2,500 to A$3,000 per completion. It’s therefore difficult to gain and maintain adequate funding. </p>
<h2>A word about road safety</h2>
<p>Licensing is critical for both mobility, education and employment. But maintaining safety on the road is equally important, especially considering Aboriginal people <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129543939">are killed</a> at two to three times the rate of the rest of the population. Exempting Aboriginal people from the graduated licensing system is likely to increase their risk of crash and is therefore not a viable option. </p>
<p>We need greater investment in end-to-end licensing support programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, allowing people to more readily gain, and retain their driver licence. This has the potential to deliver real, tangible outcomes in terms of licensing, jobs and reduced incarceration, as well as a focus on safety. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong><em>Further reading in this <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/abbott-in-arnhem-land">Abbott in Arnhem Land</a> series:<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/birthing-on-country-could-deliver-healthier-babies-and-communities-31180">Birthing on Country could deliver healthier babies and communities</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-my-country-seeing-the-true-beauty-of-life-in-bawaka-31378">Welcome to my Country: seeing the true beauty of life in Bawaka</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pm-for-aboriginal-affairs-abbott-faces-his-biggest-hearing-test-31021">‘PM for Aboriginal Affairs’ Abbott faces his biggest hearing test</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-7-up-the-revealing-study-tracking-babies-to-adults-27312">Australia’s 7 Up: the revealing study tracking babies to adults</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/well-connected-indigenous-kids-keen-to-tap-new-ways-to-save-lives-30964">Well-connected Indigenous kids keen to tap new ways to save lives</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-australias-rapid-rise-is-shifting-money-and-votes-26524">Indigenous Australia’s rapid rise is shifting money and votes</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-crowded-homes-can-lead-to-empty-schools-in-the-bush-30971">How crowded homes can lead to empty schools in the bush</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-you-risk-losing-your-home-for-a-few-weeks-of-work-30911">Would you risk losing your home for a few weeks of work?</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/listen-to-your-elders-inviting-aboriginal-parents-back-to-school-31300">Listen to your elders: inviting Aboriginal parents back to school</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/keeping-indigenous-teens-in-school-by-reinventing-the-lessons-30960">Keeping Indigenous teens in school by reinventing the lessons</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-can-a-dna-test-reveal-if-youre-an-indigenous-australian-31767">Explainer: Can a DNA test reveal if you’re an Indigenous Australian?</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-indigenous-constitutional-recognition-means-31770">Explainer: what Indigenous constitutional recognition means</a></em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31480/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Ivers is principal investigator and project leader for a large scale trial of a community based Aboriginal driver licensing support program, Driving Change (funded by AstraZeneca's Young Health Programme, Transport for NSW and NSW Health). She also receives funding for her research program from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (project grants and fellowship funding), The Australian Research Council, the NSW Government, the NT Government, the Victorian Government and the World Health Organisation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jake is employed as project officer on a large scale trial of a community based Aboriginal driver licensing support program, Driving Change (funded by AstraZeneca's Young Health Programme, Transport for NSW and NSW Health).
</span></em></p>Tony Abbott spent most of this week in North East Arnhem Land, part of his long-held hope “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories…Rebecca Ivers, Professor of Public Health; Director, Injury Division, The George Institute for Global Health, University of SydneyJake Byrne, Project Officer – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Injury, George Institute for Global HealthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/309112014-09-16T02:27:33Z2014-09-16T02:27:33ZWould you risk losing your home for a few weeks of work?<p><em>Tony Abbott <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/2014-06-23/visit-north-east-arnhem-land">is spending this week in North-East Arnhem Land</a>, part of his <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/abbott-calls-for-new-era-of-engagement-with-indigenous-australia-20130810-2rony.html">long-held hope</a> “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories does the PM need to hear while he’s in the Top End?</em></p>
<p>If you were unemployed and living in a small community with few jobs around and someone offered you a month of work, you’d jump at the chance – right? Not necessarily, if you didn’t want to risk being left worse off or even homeless as a result.</p>
<p>Weighing up whether to take casual work is a common dilemma facing unemployed or underemployed Australians. In the communities we often work with across the Northern Territory, Indigenous people are sometimes approached to work as short-term consultants with industry, government bodies or researchers like us.</p>
<p>Yet such job offers can be riskier – and costlier – than you might think.</p>
<p>Take the example of Lisa (a real person, though not her real name). She recently turned down an offer of four weeks of work because, with no ongoing job prospects, she couldn’t have afforded the six-week <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/waiting-periods">break after the job ended</a> before she could start claiming unemployment benefits again. Indeed, if she told Centrelink she had a short-term job, they would cut her payments immediately, usually several hungry weeks before her new pay cheque arrived.</p>
<p>More importantly, she could lose her welfare-linked house, as she had seen happen to friends. Better to stay on the dole for now and do a bit more training, than risk losing the roof over her head.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Centrelink video on reporting employment income.</span></figcaption>
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<p><em>(Editor’s note: The Conversation contacted the Department of Human Services to ask about the rules and waiting periods for payments being reduced or cut, which you can <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/theconversation.edu.au/document/d/1c8mqH4xNUzw5KlueeROMS5YJw0YZ0FacO_wz4GJiNxU/edit">read here</a>.)</em></p>
<h2>Signs of change in the Territory</h2>
<p>Administrative rigidity is one of the reasons <a href="http://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-on-indigenous-employment-not-quite-10426">Indigenous employment rates in the Northern Territory have changed so little in recent years</a>. In both the 2006 and 2011 censuses, the proportion of working-age Indigenous people in some form of employment remained at about 36%. This is in a job market where over 80% of non-Indigenous people have jobs.</p>
<p>During his stay in Arnhem Land this week, Prime Minister Tony Abbott will no doubt be asked about Indigenous employment. Canberra, as it has for generations, maintains the fond view that Indigenous people will eventually be drawn into the tax-paying workforce on the same terms as non-Indigenous workers. And for demographic reasons that drive rapid Indigenous growth in Australia’s capitals, their wish is probably coming true for Australia as a whole. </p>
<p>But are there signs of change in the NT where Indigenous people make up 30% of the population? The answer is a tentative yes. </p>
<p>While proportions of people in employment are unchanged, the nature of that work has changed. In 2006, 45% of Indigenous employees in the Territory were paid through [Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP)](http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6287.0~2011~Chapter~Community%20Development%20Employment%20Projects%20(CDEP), a federal government scheme run primarily for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote, rural and urban areas. This scheme encouraged people to do practical community development work, rather than just receive the dole. </p>
<p>The CDEP program is gradually being phased out, covering just 18% of Indigenous employees in the Territory in 2011, but other sources of employment have taken up the slack. Indeed, growth in non-CDEP jobs between the 2006 and 2011 censuses was 69%, way above the population increase of 6%.</p>
<h2>Earning a living from a living culture</h2>
<p>Some interesting patterns are emerging in where jobs are growing in the NT.</p>
<p>While most jobs remained government-funded, the numbers of Indigenous people employed in mining and construction have increased, possibly because mining companies have adopted deliberate Indigenous employment targets. So too did the numbers employed in the cattle industry and forestry, where there have also been programs actively supporting greater engagement.</p>
<p>Another big increase has been the number of people saying they were earning a living from culture-based industries. </p>
<p>The NT has the highest proportion of professional artists anywhere in the world because of the demand for Indigenous art. Despite a dip after the Global Financial Crisis, art centres have developed new products and markets so that the industry is thriving, albeit with ongoing government support for art centres. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Numbulwar’s Red Flag Dancers at the Top End’s annual Garma festival. Pictures provided courtesy of the Mulka Project.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Importantly, unlike Lisa’s intermittent offers of short-term work, art sales easily fit into a portfolio of income sources that do not interfere with the welfare payments that fill gaps between sales.</p>
<p>This category also includes cultural and natural resource management. Indigenous rangers manage fire and control weeds and feral animals. Such jobs have proved enormously popular because they also get people out onto country and allow them to <a href="http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Environment/Biodiversity/AboriginalLandSeaManagementEvaluation.aspx">pass on cultural knowledge to their children</a>.</p>
<p>There is also strong support from the wider Australian public for government to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023154">fund Indigenous natural and cultural resource management</a>, so there was great relief that these programs survived the recent budget intact.</p>
<h2>Bureaucracy is choking work opportunities</h2>
<p>Population movements also suggest that the potential Indigenous workforce is changing. While Indigenous people are highly mobile, and some list their “place of usual residence” as their <a href="http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/D8E0E0E3095431C7CA257BC7001396F6/$File/47350_2013.pdf">traditional country even though they may rarely get the chance to live there</a>, this practice is declining. </p>
<p>Instead, there is a gradual shift from remote sites to large communities; from these to larger towns like Katherine and Alice Springs; and a shift <a href="https://www.cdu.edu.au/the-northern-institute/research-brief-series">from these places to Darwin</a>.</p>
<p>But change is slow and policy will need to change still further if the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employment is to close. Or perhaps we need to change practice as much as policy. </p>
<p>Australian National University academic Jon Altman suggests that CDEP could most usefully be replaced by <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/08/10/rethinking-the-persistent-indigenous-employment-problem/">“basic income grants to individuals to promote productivity, enterprise and risk-taking”</a>. Indeed, it could be argued that unemployment benefits could be rebadged as basic income grants were they not so heavily bureaucratised that they inhibit enterprise.</p>
<p>So perhaps the solution to improving Indigenous employment is to look at greater flexibility.</p>
<p>In developing countries, a key feature of individual and communal resilience is a diversity of income sources. People who have a portfolio of income sources are more likely to prosper than those relying on just one. </p>
<p>Instead, the way Australian welfare payments are delivered actively discourages Indigenous people in remoter parts of the country from developing income portfolios. People like Lisa – capable, smart and keen to work – are punished for seizing short-term job opportunities that can build their CVs, expand their skills and give them the pride that can come with employment. </p>
<p>Rather than withholding welfare benefits for six weeks, we should be making it easier for her to say yes to a diverse mix of work – fostering entrepreneurial behaviour rather than driving dependency.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong><em>Further reading in this Abbott in Arnhem Land series:<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-my-country-seeing-the-true-beauty-of-life-in-bawaka-31378">Welcome to my Country: seeing the true beauty of life in Bawaka</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pm-for-aboriginal-affairs-abbott-faces-his-biggest-hearing-test-31021">‘PM for Aboriginal Affairs’ Abbott faces his biggest hearing test</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/well-connected-indigenous-kids-keen-to-tap-new-ways-to-save-lives-30964">Well-connected Indigenous kids keen to tap new ways to save lives</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-crowded-homes-can-lead-to-empty-schools-in-the-bush-30971">How crowded homes can lead to empty schools in the bush</a><br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-australias-rapid-rise-is-shifting-money-and-votes-26524">Indigenous Australia’s rapid rise is shifting money and votes</a></em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Garnett receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a project looking at Indigenous measures of success in natural resource management</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerstin Zander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tony Abbott is spending this week in North-East Arnhem Land, part of his long-held hope “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories…Kerstin Zander, Senior Research Fellow, Charles Darwin UniversityStephen Garnett, Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/300802014-08-05T01:06:55Z2014-08-05T01:06:55ZForrest report ignores what works and why in Indigenous policy<p>The <a href="https://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/The_Forrest_Review.pdf">Creating Parity report</a> on Indigenous employment and welfare, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/01/tony-abbott-doesnt-rule-out-expanding-income-management">released last week</a> by mining magnate Andrew Forrest, is in much the same vein as Tony Shepherd’s recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/commission-of-audit-report-released-experts-respond-26177">Commission of Audit</a>. Forrest and Shepherd are senior business figures with limited policy expertise. They have offered the Abbott government reports that expose their lack of experience in using appropriate evidence bases to shape the recommendations they offer. </p>
<p>When offered a range of responses to their inquiries, they allow their prejudices to override any ideas they didn’t like.</p>
<p>Forrest started with his <a href="https://theconversation.com/philanthropy-in-australia-its-what-you-do-with-it-that-counts-12473">philanthropic</a> plus business models firmly in place. This led him to assume that what worked for him – as a privileged white male – would work for anyone else. Some personal experiences and childhood memories are fed into a set of recommendations. These proclaim the virtues of the current systems of education and attached services, but without really explaining why it hasn’t worked so far for most first people. </p>
<p>The result, as seen in the report, is Forrest’s supposedly unified set of proposals. However, these offer options that could well make things worse. They ignore both Indigenous strengths and what the rest of us have learnt, or need to learn.</p>
<h2>Punitive paternalism has a long history of failure</h2>
<p>Forrest makes the same mistakes that <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2007/10/12/the-pm-and-aboriginal-australia-a-timeline/">John Howard</a> followed by <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/how-jenny-macklin-took-on-the-left-to-transform-indigenous-policy/story-fn9hm1pm-1226766385171">Jenny Macklin</a> made in Indigenous policy. They also assumed that the problems were endemic to Indigenous communities. More rapid change therefore required a solid assault on the too slow assimilative processes that were needed to ensure parity success in our terms.</p>
<p>This involved stricter control over the “deviant” behaviours that created disadvantage. The non-compliant behaviours that are blamed for continuing disadvantage needed “tough love” responses.</p>
<p>As prime minister Tony Abbott <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/abbott-challenged-by-forrest-report/story-fn3dxiwe-1227009707084">said</a>, the government needs to discourage non-optimum decision-making by using financial penalties to force good personal health care, ordered and clean daily life and education attendance. This very <a href="https://overland.org.au/2014/05/tony-abbott-and-the-white-mans-burden/">19th century model</a> reflects the colonising model that created many of the current problems, albeit with less overt, more subtle racism.</p>
<p>Punitive policies had a very poor record of success as colonisers sought to enforce their version of civilisation on the colonised. The report’s approach led <a href="http://www.themonthly.com.au/politicoz/august/1406857530/twiggys-two-cents">one commentator to write</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As it happens, Forrest’s report goes well beyond <a href="https://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/terms-of-reference">his brief</a>, and advocates a return to the paternalistic and punitive welfare models of centuries past for not just Indigenous welfare recipients but hundreds of thousands of others. There are echoes of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Poor_Laws">‘poor laws’</a> of British mercantilism in his proposal to punish parents for their children’s non-attendance at school. His proposal to extend ‘income management’ – that attempt at controlling how welfare recipients spend their money which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/northern-territory-intervention-extended-but-is-it-working-8005">proven so divisive</a> among Aboriginal communities – harks back to the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ILB/2005/12.html">trust accounts</a> of past decades.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This step backwards fails to accept that recognising and respecting the civilisations and contributions of Indigenous peoples is necessary to unravel the damages of long-term cultural dominance, which strips away communal strengths and well-being. </p>
<p>The United Nations and others have recognised the long-term failures of programs to “civilise” first nations. Yet we have seen returns to paternalism in the <a href="http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/northern-territory-emergency-response-intervention">Northern Territory Emergency Response</a> (NTER) – the NT Intervention – and other welfare changes. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/indigenous-australians/programs-services/closing-the-gap-in-the-northern-territory/northern-territory-emergency-response-nter-redesign/about-the-response/legislation">original NTER legislation</a> created many racially targeted programs as “special measures” and suspended the Racial Discrimination Act. Labor’s subsequent de-racialisation of income management has not stopped the program despite <a href="http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2013/07/income-management-policy-%E2%80%98ineffective%E2%80%99-report#">little or no evidence it works</a>.</p>
<p>Nowhere does the report make any serious acknowledgement of systemic exclusion of both Indigenous knowledge and cultural competencies. It offers no recognition of the value of language diversity and the maintenance of cultural identity.</p>
<p>Missing too from the report are the data that show the failure of many of the proposed programs such as anti-truancy measures. Having children at schools that do not meet their needs does not improve outcomes.</p>
<h2>When all else fails, trying looking at the evidence</h2>
<p>The report shows no signs that the authors are aware of the substantial recent research evidence that finds that flaws in how governments devise and deliver services are responsible for many program failures. They need to look at what works and what does not.</p>
<p>As a long-term policy wonk, with direct experience in ministers’ offices, advocacy groups, NGOs, bureaucracies and academic teaching of the process, I am researching the evidence of what works and often doesn’t work. As professorial fellow in the research unit of <a href="http://www.jumbunna.uts.edu.au/">UTS Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning</a>, my project involves collating documentation on why so many well-funded policies and programs fail to deliver their apparent good intentions.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the Closing the Gap agreements established a <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/closingthegap/">clearinghouse</a> on such data with the highly reputable Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The AIHW is the government’s own collector of statistics and guardian of high standards. Since 2011, it has offered its meta-analyses of the results in many of the research and evaluation reports lodged by other government authorities like the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), academic and community institutions.</p>
<p>The AIHW publications sum up results in a <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/15161.pdf">series of publications</a> on what works and, importantly, what does not.</p>
<p>Briefly, what works is bottom-up, culturally appropriate programs in partnership with – and not for – local groups for the long term. What doesn’t work is top-down, centrally decided, cookie-cutter models.</p>
<p>On these criteria the Forrest proposals would mostly fail. Despite recognising, in later sections, the importance of local elders in processes, he suggests local engagement but only if the locals adopt the centrally set criteria and delivery models.</p>
<p>Forrest dismisses oral cultures and languages, and all other learning that cannot be applied in job seeking. He ignores the importance of community and focuses on fixing individuals. It is a repeat of the recipes that Lutheran missionaries <a href="http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2009/june/1274511700/peter-sutton/here-i-stand">imposed on the young Noel Pearson</a>, with a few updates.</p>
<p>Increasing numbers of research studies show the importance of a <a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/why-the-governments-welfare-reform-cant-work">sense of agency to social well-being</a>. There are no clear results that validate the policies that increase controls over people’s lives, such as Cape York, which has produced <a href="http://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/03_2013/cywr_evaluation_report_v1.2_0.pdf">very limited improvements</a>.</p>
<p>When I raise this lack of evidence, a frequent response is that “nothing works, so we had to do something”. However, the risk is that what is proposed is likely to make the disconnections worse, so these proposals are not an appropriate response. As we do have data on <a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-we-know-what-works-so-why-dont-we-do-it-23243">what works and what does not</a>, the Forrest report needs to be totally rewritten to take the AIHW evidence into account.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Creating Parity report on Indigenous employment and welfare, released last week by mining magnate Andrew Forrest, is in much the same vein as Tony Shepherd’s recent Commission of Audit. Forrest and…Eva Cox, Professorial Fellow Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/282742014-07-08T01:30:32Z2014-07-08T01:30:32ZFinding that first job is hard, and cultural hurdles make it extra hard<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52991/original/zx3jxkkm-1404439531.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">With mentoring and industry traineeships, young Indigenous people are making their way into steady employment.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/sydneyalliance/pages/72/attachments/original/1394596303/DSC_2812b.JPG?1394596303">WorkingStart!</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago in a quiet corner of Sydney’s <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/explore/facilities/community-centres/redfern-community-centre">Redfern Community Centre</a>, I interviewed a young Aboriginal man, Scott, about his life for a research project. Like many of his contemporaries he grew up in a home without a father and with a mother who had struggled to keep him in check.</p>
<p>Scott was a bright kid but left school early – hardly any Koori boys made it past year 10. He spent much of his childhood moving between Redfern, Mt Druitt and “up home”, his people’s traditional country on the north coast of NSW. So when Scott finally settled and tried to get work, he wasn’t really qualified for anything.</p>
<p>Scott’s family had first moved to the city in the 1970s during the great wave of urban Aboriginal settlement that followed the <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/chresearch/ReserveStation.htm">closure of government reserves</a>.</p>
<p>The tragedy was that this demographic shift corresponded with the world economic recession, which killed off many of the city jobs in which Aboriginal men might hope to be employed – manual labour, trades, waterfront work, railway workshops, manufacturing.</p>
<p>For Aboriginal women, the move was less traumatic. Urban housing, even in rundown inner-city terraces, freed them from the struggles of raising families in improvised substandard housing on riverbank camp or reserves. They have been the mainstays of community and family life.</p>
<p>Scott’s father was unable to cope with the move. He was often away chasing bits of farmwork in the bush until he eventually disappeared.</p>
<h2>A generation short of mentors</h2>
<p>Scott was part of a generation of Aboriginal youth who grew up without fathers around and with few role models for steady wage labour. The lucky ones were shepherded through the turbulence of youth by uncles or older siblings and cousins. Many others suffered <a href="https://theconversation.com/bad-news-negative-indigenous-health-coverage-reinforces-stigma-24851">addiction, prison or early death</a>.</p>
<p>Those who survived into their mid-to-late 20s would then try to find stability through employment but were handicapped by lack of qualifications and work experience.</p>
<p>The Aboriginal population has low life expectancy, drug and alcohol problems and high levels of exposure to the criminal justice system. This means that the sorts of catastrophe that rarely afflict non-indigenous middle-class families are disturbingly frequent for Aboriginal people.</p>
<p>This creates a level of precariousness that makes commitment to long-term steady work, the hallmark of a respectable conformist citizenship, particularly hard to manage. Young people are often reluctant to communicate the details of these crises, especially to employers, partly because they are often <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-1403-2_12">a source of shame</a>.</p>
<p>This does not just affect wage labour, but also other forms of commitment that require time discipline and punctuality: such as study, meeting people in official roles, or participating in government or community organisations.</p>
<p>It is important to understand stories like Scott’s in order to address the chronic failure of governments to <a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-or-making-it-wider-putting-a-value-on-indigenous-jobs-7022">“close the gap”</a> between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia, as measured in statistics like unemployment and education attainment rates. </p>
<p>The recognition that many indigenous youth, especially boys, have experienced a “paternity deficit” suggests they might require additional mentoring and support to assist them to enter and remain in the workforce.</p>
<h2>Bridging gaps in understanding and expectations</h2>
<p>This is the motivation for the <a href="http://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/workingstart">WorkingStart! program</a> initiated by the <a href="http://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/about_us">Sydney Alliance</a>, which has provided support to a modest number of Aboriginal youth. The program provides for limited public funding for employment support workers to liaise with employers to ensure they understand the challenges facing their young Aboriginal employees.</p>
<p>A pilot has been established in Sydney’s Glebe. Mirvac (which is redeveloping the <a href="http://haroldparkbymirvac.com/">Harold Park site</a>) is providing indigenous traineeships in the building trades.</p>
<p>Many Aboriginal youth are not what employers would usually call “dependable”. They are prone to turning up late or not at all, and leaving work early with little warning. Some are called away to meet family obligations. The Working Start program recognises that what is frequently seen as lack of reliability is the product of complex social forces.</p>
<p>Additionally, for those in their late teens or early twenties, the call of the street, and the “trouble” that often comes with this, is hard to resist. Their friends will often evolve subcultural responses to long-term unemployment, prioritising hanging with the crowd over employment or the search for employment (despite feeling the blowtorch of <a href="https://theconversation.com/unfinished-business-reducing-indigenous-incarceration-17227">“zero tolerance” policing</a> in deprived neighbourhoods). The process of breaking free of these influences can be long and complicated.</p>
<p>Conventional employment relations do little to enhance the prospects of Aboriginal people. For most, an early exit from formal education means they are only qualified to perform unskilled casual jobs.</p>
<p>As one 30-year-old, who had lived in Redfern Waterloo, said to me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m over all this casual work; give me a steady job and I’ll be there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But being there and staying there often requires more than commitment; it requires structures of support that most employers are disinclined to provide.</p>
<h2>With political will, there’s a way</h2>
<p>The WorkingStart! model offers hope to Aboriginal youth. The program is now being extended to other areas of Sydney – Blacktown and Granville – to assist youth from other disadvantaged backgrounds who experience comparable problems.</p>
<p>However, such programs <a href="http://www.sydneyalliance.org.au/workingstart_faqs">require solid public funding</a>. For every dollar that governments spend, the public purse will be more than compensated by the lower costs associated with policing, health and social welfare services.</p>
<p>With greater funding support from governments, programs like WorkingStart! would be able to move from crisis management to encouraging resilience and self-sufficiency. For people like Scott and his friends, that is life-changing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28274/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Morgan was engaged by the Sydney Alliance to evaluate the results of its WorkingStart! program.</span></em></p>A few years ago in a quiet corner of Sydney’s Redfern Community Centre, I interviewed a young Aboriginal man, Scott, about his life for a research project. Like many of his contemporaries he grew up in…George Morgan, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.