William Sanders
‘Working Future’: A Critique of Policy by Numbers (or The Weakness of Collaborative Federalism in an Emergency)
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
This paper will begin by using population figures from the 2006 Census, organised by the ABS’s Indigenous geography, to raise some questions about the Northern Territory Government’s ‘Working Future’ policy, announced in May 2009. It will suggest that by focusing on more populous Aboriginal settlements, the policy has also, perhaps inadvertently, focused on the Top End of the Northern Territory at the expense of the Centre.
Fueling large group dominance: A critique of the Northern Territory local government electoral system
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
This seminar will reflect on some results of the inaugural Shire elections held in the Northern Territory in October 2008. It will observe that, in a number of large multi-member wards in various Shires, those elected to second and subsequent positions often:
- came from the same locations as those elected first, and
- had quite low primary votes.
Conversely, some candidates from other locations who had quite high primary votes did not go on to be elected to second and subsequent positions.
Saving and Strengthening CDEP: A remote Australia policy treasure
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme has been subject to major criticism in recent years for being part of, or little better than, Aboriginal welfare dependence. In the first half of this seminar I will defend CDEP from its critics, by both recounting its origins and elaborating on some of its strengths; most notably its flexibility and support for Indigenous community-based organisations, particularly in remote areas. I will argue that CDEP is a remote Australian policy treasure, but that despite this labeling CDEP does have some weaknesses.
Indigenous Housing Tenure in Remote Areas: Directions and Constraints
Topical Issue 6 / 2008
May 2008 - Indigenous Housing Tenure in Remote Areas: Directions and Constraints
Adapted from the ANU-Toyota Public Lecture ‘Closing the Gaps in Indigenous Mortality and Housing: Perspectives from the Social Sciences’, presented at the ANU on Friday 4 April 2008, this paper explores directions and constraints in remote area housing tenure through census statistics and a regional case study. It argues that land title is not the key impediment to, or constraint on, home ownership in remote Aboriginal communities, but rather that the key constraint is the economic status of the residents of such communities.[23 May 2008]
Re-vitalising the Community Development Employment Program in the Northern Territory
Topical Issue 5 / 2008
May 2008 - Re-vitalising the Community Development Employment Program in the Northern Territory
This submission was prepared in response to the Northern Territory Government's Review of Community Development Employment Program discussion paper. The submission, focusing mainly on CAEPR research findings produced since 1990, provides evidence-based research findings that the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) scheme is an important and beneficial program for Northern Territory Aboriginal communities and individuals.
[20 May 2008]
Changes to CDEP under DEWR: Policy substance and the new contractualism
Topical Issue 6 / 2007
May 2007 -
The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme is an Indigenous 'workfare' program which has existed since 1977. In 2004, with the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), CDEP became a responsibility of the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). Since early 2005, DEWR has been engaged in a reform process which has led to some significant changes to CDEP. This article looks at those changes under two headings; policy substance and the new contractualism. It begins with a little more history.
Indigenous Potential meets Economic Opportunity Discussion Paper
Topical Issue 5 / 2007
March 2007 -
A submission by CAEPR researchers to DEWR's 'Indigenous Potential meets Economic Opportunity' CDEP Discussion Paper, November 2006.
Sustainable governance for small desert settlements
Topical Issue 2 / 2007
March 2007 -
'Sustainable governance for small desert settlements: Combining single settlement localism and multi-settlement regionalism', a paper presented to the Desert Knowledge Symposium & Business Showcase, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, 1-3 November 2006.
Indigenous affairs after the Howard decade: An administrative revolution while defying decolonisation
Topical Issue 3 / 2006
April 2006 - The Howard Decade
'Indigenous affairs after the Howard decade: An administrative revolution while defying decolonisation' by Will Sanders. Paper presented to the Howard Decade Conference, Canberra, 3-4 March 2006.
Views From The Top of the 'Quiet Revolution' (Streaming Audio)
Topical Issue 1 / 2006
March 2006 -
In February 2005, Minister Amanda Vanstone addressed the National Press Club on the new arrangements in Indigenous affairs. She identified these new arrangements as a 'quiet revolution in Indigenous affairs'. Within the context of the new arrangements, the Australian Public Service is undergoing some major changes in the way in which it seeks to develop and implement policy in relation to Indigenous affairs.
