Program Overview: Employment and Training
The Employment and Training Program comprises of two subprograms:
1. Community Development Employment Program (CDEP); and
2. Community Training Program (CTP).
PROGRAM – COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM (CDEP)
Objective
To provide Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people living in the region with the opportunity to voluntarily work in community managed activities that contribute to economic, social and community development and cultural maintenance.
Description
The CDEP is available to Torres Strait Islander communities within the Torres Strait region. The Program enables unemployed Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal persons living in the region to undertake work on activities chosen by the community or organisation, as an alternative to unemployment benefits.
The Program facilitates community development through the implementation of projects decided upon by the communities themselves and in accordance with their own priorities. Community development is further enhanced through the Program’s flexibility and capacity to link with other programs such as Business Funding and Community Economic Initiatives Schemes, the Major Infrastructure Program, various Australian and Queensland Government housing schemes, the Community Training Program (CTP), apprenticeships and various accredited training programs provided by the Australian and Queensland Governments. It also involves funding for environmental and landscaping programs.
Funding
In 2005-2006, the TSRA was allocated $30,685,470 and committed $30,603,046 of CDEP program funds to projects in the Torres Strait region, achieving 97.1% expenditure over commitment. It is the TSRA’s single largest program. As at 30 June 2006, there was a total of 1,942 eligible participants in 19 CDEP schemes, covering 19 communities. Expenditure for 2005-2006 was $29,728,929 comprising: wages ($22,607,103) and recurrent/capital ($7,121,826), which included $137,453 as CDEP support comprising the conduct of 3 major reviews and the completion of a further 3 ($29,145); costs associated with the engagement of a Change Manager for the Horn Island CDEP ($52,846); the purchase and installation of 15 Busyboxes ($25,353); the expenditure of $25,990 relating to the maintenance and continuous upgrading of the CDEP Manager software; $3,729 spent in Australian Government Solicitor’s legal advice and $380 towards the costs of gazettal of the TSRA Decision-Making Principles.
Achievements
CDEP communities within the Torres Strait region are involved in a number of work projects that CDEP members consider to be beneficial to the development of their particular community. During 2005- 2006, these projects continued to support activities such as: administration, storage yard and depot maintenance, fuel depots, public transport, landscaping, general land and environment management programs, waste and rubbish recycling and removal, contract cleaning, hydroponics, cemetery maintenance, road and drainage construction and their upgrade and maintenance, market gardens and nursery projects, livestock management and abattoirs, cargo handling, garages and service stations, stevedoring, vehicle maintenance and mechanical workshops, tourism and hospitality, supermarket and groceries, cattle-work, piggeries, animal care and husbandry, traditional and community justice systems and policing, women, youth, culture and church projects, assistance to education and primary health care, fishing, seafood processing, live crustaceans management and marketing, take-away enterprises, construction and maintenance of buildings and community roads, quarries, sea walls, levee banks, airstrip upgrades and other public utilities such as community seafood storage and freezing facilities, screen-printing and art and crafts, home and child care, and broadcasting.
In addition to these ongoing activities, housing and major infrastructure contracts continued to be won by CDEP organisations, reinforcing the trend started some seven years ago.
Building contractors employed numerous CDEP participants, thus providing the workers with extended working hours and increased income, as well as valuable training. The utilisation of the local CDEP workforce is ongoing and forms a significant component of local councils’ abilities to bid for construction contracts, including MIP, housing or general infrastructure.
The CDEP remains the focal point to which a host of other inter-agency programs, notably related to training and business development, can be connected. This feature, coupled with the inherent operational flexibility of the Program and the practically total Indigenous input into the formulation of the communities’ Work Plans, still make it the ideal tool for community development. Funds were committed for annual reviews of three TSRA-funded organisations and the completion of another three. The recommendations from these reviews were implemented throughout the 2005-2006 financial year and will continue annually.
The 2005-2006 CDEP work plans and programs closely followed the local priorities outlined in the Four-Year Community Development Plans (2004-2008) compiled in 2003-2004 and reflected in the TSRA quadrennial system of funding. Specific examples of employment-generating activities include intensive CDEP involvement in Seisia’s enterprises (Camping grounds, tourist units, cattle enterprise/abattoirs/meat processing, commercial septic pump-out service, kiosk, service station, stevedoring and supermarket) as well as heavily participating in roads, buildings and administration.
At Masig, CDEP participants manage and operate the Lowatta Lodge Resort, the local Freezer and the garage.
At Horn Island, CDEP participants work as Teacher’s Aides, Rangers, Carpenters and Builders.
At Iama, 15 CDEP participants left the island for a contract with Western Australian Railways, three participants manage the desalination and waste water and sewerage treatment plants.
At Warraber, CDEP participants receive top-up wages while building houses and the Tourist Resort, seven participants produce artefacts for the Gab Titui Cultural Centre on Thursday Island, and other participants are employed at the Guesthouse, the Kiosk and the Garage.
At TRAWQ, on Thursday Island, 12 participants have left for mainstream employment and 17 are enrolled in training programs in Business administration. One participant is now full time mechanic at TRAWQ’s Garage, several others are running the bus service, the night security patrol and the construction crew. Yet others are Teacher’s Aides and groundsmen at Aboriginal Hostels. TRAWQ has secured for the third year running the maintenance contract for the cemeteries and Torres Shire Council’s facilities.
At St Paul, CDEP workers operate the Block-making Plant, the guesthouse, the local radio station, the local SES and Marine rescue unit and the garage. They provide as well manpower for the construction of ATSI houses.
At Mer, two CDEP participants have completed their mechanical apprenticeship and are now qualified mechanics and operate the Mer Island workshop and garage. Two plant operators have now found mainstream employment while eight were employed by the Department of Main Roads for the upgrade of the airstrip and the construction of internal roads.
At Mabuiag, 5 CDEP participants have found mainstream employment. CDEP also operates a community policing service and as a workshop.
At Kubin, CDEP workers manage and operate the motel and the recently opened Arts Centre, as well as building, maintaining and repairing housing stock.
At Hammond, CDEP workers are employed by the Council as receptionists, clerks, ground maintenance workers, rangers, ferry deck hands and storemen. CDEP workers also manage and operate the recently established Fuel bowser facilities.
At Dauan, eleven participants are out-posted at the local Water supply and Environmental Health, three work at the school, three operate the radio station, two operate the guesthouse, and seven operate the Council’s ferry service.
At Poruma, CDEP participants manage and operate the Tourist Resort, the Post Office agency, the local radio station.
At Badu, they manage the local enterprises (motel, quarry, hotel, fuel depot, nursery and take-away outlet). CDEP participants are also employed as construction workers, in the sewerage treatment plant, as rangers and as members of various municipal gangs.
Finally, at Bamaga, CDEP participants work full time as housing maintenance and upgrades contractors throughout all Cape York communities. They also operate the swimming pool, the gymnasium, the nursery, radio station, the sewerage treatment plant and the community policing services.
There are many more examples illustrating CDEP as an essential component of community life, whether economic, social, administrative and cultural, and it is proving to be an important program that assists regional communities to pursue development opportunities.
CDEP On-Line
The MOU between TSRA and Centrelink was finalised and signed in January 2006. This document, when implemented in association with the actual CDEP Manager resident program, reflects and further defines the eligibility requirements of the participants to the CDEP scheme, eliminates ghosting and double dipping and ensures the increased efficiency of the various processes put in place to respond as quickly as possible to the participants’ changes in status and employment circumstances.
The CDEP Manager program, used through Internet facilities available thanks to a satellite network and a series of “Busyboxes” installed on each Island, offers almost instantaneous transmission of CDEP participants’ eligibility status and pay details to the main stake-holders TSRA, Centrelink and the CDEP organisations. This, without the need for the compilation of CDEP Participant Schedules nor the time consuming posting and receipt of various data disks. It practically eliminates “ghosting” and double-dipping and has increased immeasurably the efficiency of the scheme and its capacity to deliver its outcomes.
CDEP Award
All CDEP communities and organisations are now fully aware of the fact that the 19 CDEP schemes operating in the Torres Strait region are now covered by an Award specific to the Torres Strait.
PROGRAM – COMMUNITY TRAINING PROGRAM (CTP)
Objective
To improve individual and community skill levels to enable communities and individuals to improve self-management to become more competitive in the mainstream labour markets.
Description
This component provides community organisations with the opportunity to apply for funds to upgrade skills in administration, financial management, services industries and trades, as well as training related to environmental issues, health, heritage and culture, and land management.
This training can take the form of formal courses, on-the-job training, a mixture of both, or employment of tradesmen assuming responsibility for apprenticeships. Through this component, financial assistance may also be provided to a sponsoring organisation’s staff member to undertake a full-time accredited course at a recognised tertiary educational institution.
Funding
In 2005-2006, the TSRA was allocated $1,321,840 which it committed to various Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations for the continuation of the CTP, achieving 99.7% expenditure over commitment.
Achievements
As in previous years, the training funds were used to improve managerial, administrative and trade-based skills. A range of courses were conducted on the following: computer operation, accounting software, office management, painting, carpentry, electrical skills, plumbing, welding and other building trades, mechanical skills and small motor repairs and maintenance, screen printing, fashion studies, basic literacy and numeracy, conflict resolution, small business management, fishery/seafood processing, coxswain and other vocational marine training, fuel outlets, hazardous substances, retailing, take-away outlet operations, first aid, Work Place Health & Safety, community policing, airport reporting, child care, ranger operations, furniture making, cooking, sewing and other home management courses, fitness and sport coaching, horticulture, environmental health, coping with dementia and other challenging behaviours, nursing home documentation principles, risk management for aged care facilities and financial management.
In 2005-2006, a total of 23 separate projects were planned and 22 achieved, including 105 apprenticeships throughout the region. A concerted effort to link these courses with CDEP and the training and employment opportunities offered to the communities by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), the Queensland Department of Employment and Training (DET) as well as the network of Job Centres, continued during 2005-2006.
Torres Strait communities utilised tradesmen and skilled residents to conduct training where possible, while in other instances expressions of interest were sought from accredited trainers based elsewhere. In 2006-2007, it is intended to place an additional emphasis to Business Mentoring and capacity building.
The TSRA Board continues to consider community based training a priority in Torres Strait. In 2005-2006, as in previous years, this output ensured the involvement of both Commonwealth and State mainstream employment and training agencies, whenever possible. Proof of involvement and consultation with mainstream training and employment agencies continued to be a condition of funding.
