MAKING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES STRONG THOUGH SMALL BUSINESS

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Making Families and Communities Strong Through Small Business Mara West, Honours Thesis, Murdoch University, 2007The last two decades however, has seen an increase in the number ofAboriginal people gaining economic security not only in their owncommunities but on a National and International level. The mostprominent are those involved in the arts, entertainment and sport. Thenthere are those who have gone on to further education and training andare employed in professional positions throughout the country. The1991 census shows there has been a marked increase in all socioeconomicindicators. The establishment of land councils, Aboriginalmedical services, and services such as legal, media, housing andeducation in the 1960s has provided culturally appropriate services andsome control to Indigenous people.In recent years many Aboriginal people have thrown off the shackles ofwelfare dependency and have established their own enterpriseshowever this number is small and the two case studies that will bepresented as part of this paper will highlight the difficulties andpressures of “Indigenous business” and the need for supportivepolicies.Aboriginal people however are no strangers to business as trade waspart of their lives, trading with other groups as well as overseas groupssuch as the Macassans in the North of Australia and the Torres StraitIslanders. Bourke tells us that the people traded from one end of thecountry to the other usually on the boundaries of the group concerned.There were even exchanges between hostile groups where one groupplaced their goods at a certain spot and withdrew while the anothergroup placed their things there. The goods were examined separatelyand if they liked what they saw the goods were exchanged.Each group kept in touch with the groups on the boundaries of theircountry but the trading went further afield to distant groups. This wasdone thoughFor example, there is the Cooper’s Creek trade in Central Australia.Here, the Yantruwuntu tribe received shields from their neighbours whogot them from the north east. In exchange the Yantruwuntu gaveweapons they had made and grinding stones they had got from thesouth.The trade routes were very important as they were said to be the trackswhich the Dreamtime ancestors used to travel the country.Today, with the diversity of lifestyles some Aboriginal people “trade”according to mainstream values with economic returns where as forothers the material benefits have limited cultural relevance.2.2. REPORTS, STRATEGIES, PROGRAMS <strong>AND</strong> POLICIES2.2.1. The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) schemewas initiated in 1977. It gave unemployed Aboriginal people theopportunity to work in community managed projects and enterprises. Itwas also a mechanism for people to acquire training and skills. The8
Making Families and Communities Strong Through Small Business Mara West, Honours Thesis, Murdoch University, 2007government of the day said it was initiated in response to demandsfrom remote communities wanting to combat the effects of entrenchedunemployment, although many Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoplesaid it was to make the employment figures look good. To participate,people had to forgo their entitlements to Newstart or Job Search. Inexchange ATSIC made grants to CDEP organisations to assist withproject administration and capital works. This arrangement challengedmainstream assumption that the only future for Aboriginal people lay inbecoming fully integrated into mainstream labour and capital markets.The recent changes to CDEP however means that in some areasIndigenous peoples will indeed be participating in mainstreamprograms, the success of which remains to be seen.The abolition of ATSIC has seen the CDEP move to DEWR wherefurther changes to the CDEP have occurred involving the abolition ofCDEP programs in suburban and major regional centres throughoutAustralia. In Western Australia Perth, Broome, Albany, Bunbury,Kalgoorlie and South Hedland CDEP will be abolished. These locationswere selected on the basis of population size, unemployment rates andavailability of other employment services in the area. The reasons forthis is given in the Indigenous Potential Meets Economic OpportunityDiscussion Paper 2006, Questions and answers:Results from both mainstream and Indigenous specific services haveimproved over the last few years but there is room for furtherimprovement – approximately 5 per cent of the people moving throughCDEP in 2005-06 were recorded as achieving employment off CDEP.Further, outcomes from CDEP appear to be growing faster in remoteareas than in urban areas. A new approach is required to improveperformance particularly in urban and major regional centres withstrong labour markets (p2).Wherever CDEP is Abolished the Structured Training and EmploymentProjects (STEP) will be available to Indigenous people. The STEP willbe enhanced to cater for individuals not ready for training or jobplacement. The new STEP brokerage model will operate in urban andmajor regional centres throughout the country during 2007-09. Thetimeline set for these changes are as follows:November 2006 – Consultation beginsDecember 2006 -Consultation feedback and submission periodcloses.January 2007 – CDEP guidelines for 2007 – 08 publishedCDEP e submission process opens for locationswhere CDEP will be retainedcall for expressions of interest to deliver the STEPbrokeragetransition period for CDEP participants to STEP orother services such as the Disability EmploymentNetwork (DEN) or the Vocational RehabilitationService (VRS).9
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