Job seekers in remote Australian communities often face unique challenges that mean mainstream employment and participation solutions have historically fallen short of community expectations.

We are seeking feedback on how to further improve employment and participation in remote Australia by exploring how to:

• grow the remote labour market
• provide more incentives to job seekers
• give remote communities more control and greater decision-making
• improve the support available to job seekers so they can move from welfare and into work.

The Remote Employment and Participation discussion paper outlines 3 potential options for the delivery of services in remote Australia:

1. New Wage-Based Model – the Government has developed a high level wage-based model underpinned by three tiers of participation.
2. CDP Reform Bill 2015 – ‘CDP2’ – in late 2015, the Government introduced the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Community Development Program) Bill 2015 into Parliament, with the aim of establishing a more direct and immediate income support and compliance system with stronger incentives to work for remote job seekers.
3. Community Development Programme (CDP) with improvements – there are some areas where short term improvements can be made to the current model.

The paper also seeks feedback on how to ensure a smooth implementation and transition to any new arrangements from the current program.

For further details on the discussion paper and how to make a submission, please visit Remote Employment and Participation Discussion Paper. Submissions close 5:00pm AEST Friday 23 February 2018.