Aboriginal work for the dole axed

Life Matters on ABC Radio National
Wednesday July 24 9am - 10am live with Richard Aedy (repeated at 9pm)

The Federal Government has announced the next stage of its emergency response in remote Northern Territory aboriginal communities, by abolishing the CDEP employment programs. The government says the CDEP or Community Development Employment Projects will be replaced by "real jobs", training and mainstream employment programmes. Earlier this year the government announced the axing of CDEP programmes in urban and major regional areas, but said it would keep CDEP in remote communities because of the difficulty in getting jobs there. It's now reversed that decision, in a move that's been condemned by observers such as Professor Jon Altman from the Australian National University.