Early results show ground-breaking Indigenous reforms are working

Premier and Minister for the Arts
The Honourable Anna Bligh
02/07/2009
Early results show ground-breaking Indigenous reforms are working

The ground-breaking Family Responsibilities Commission established to improve the social and economic prospects of Queensland's remote Indigenous communities has achieved significant results, its latest report reveals.

Speaking at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Darwin today, Premier Anna Bligh said the latest quarterly report by FRC Commissioner David Glasgow showed a focus on child safety and school attendance in the key community Aurukun revealed dramatic decreases in crime and increases in school attendance.

Ms Bligh said in addition, community members in the four communities covered by the FRC - Aurukun, Hope Vale, Coen and Mossman Gorge - were taking advantage of the Commission's role in referring and directing families toward a range of support services including positive parenting programs and rehabilitation for gambling, drug and alcohol abuse as well as financial counselling.

"The Family Responsibilities Commission is part of the ground-breaking Cape York Welfare Reform trial which is globally unique in linking parental responsibility with government assistance," Ms Bligh said.

"It is a significant departure from past government policies for Indigenous Queenslanders and at its core it aims to overcome past legacies which resulted in chronic levels of welfare dependency.

"This is about the determined joint efforts of my government and the Commonwealth to improve the prospects for all Indigenous children and families living in remote communities - we need to try new ways to overcome the often widespread social dysfunction in these communities.

"And I'm pleased to report that the tangible results of Mr Glasgow's latest report show that over the nine months until March this year, of 1250 notifications there were 441 referrals were made to support services to guide community members through gambling and drug and alcohol rehabilitation courses, as well as into financial counselling and positive parenting programs.

"Without the FRC taking on this role, without government taking this active step toward getting Indigenous communities back on their feet, these people would otherwise have simply slipped through the cracks."

Significantly, Mr Glasgow's report showed:

*A 44.25 per cent decrease - from 678 to 378 - in the number of defendants listed before the Aurukun Magistrate Court circuit between July 2008 and March 2009
*An increase in school attendance rates in Aurukun from 46.1 per cent in the first term of 2008 to more than 56 per cent at the end of the first term of 2009

"Those are considerable and important results - they show that the FRC is making a difference where it matters most and they have been achieved in only the first 12 months of the Commission.
"In addition, the report shows school attendance rates in Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge remain high and although the result in Aurukun is en couraging, we still need to lift school attendance to higher levels.
"The report also outlines that infrastructure has been built to support the Wellbeing Centres - where community members can attend support services - in each community.
"The FRC trial will run through until 2012 and we will closely monitor the results over the next three-and-a-half years."

Ms Bligh said the tougher end of the FRC's role gave it an option to conditionally manage individual family incomes.

"But this is ordered only as a last resort option and only where there is no other option - where it is absolutely necessary," she said.

By the end of March, the FRC has ordered 59 people into conditional income management but this move has had a positive outcome with Centrelink data showing more than 90 per cent of conditionally income managed payments were being spent on food and clothing and other essentials such as whitegoods.

"In addition, the success of this app roach can be measured by the fact that people are voluntarily coming forward and asking the FRC to conditionally manage their welfare payments."

Ms Bligh said the FRC would be subject to an on-going evaluation with a final appraisal of the trials outcomes and a report by 2012.

Meantime, an independent evaluation of the FRC implementation will be completed by the end of this year.

"I am anticipating the findings will ultimately shape and inform social policy in Queensland and nationally for decades to come.

"In short, the Cape York Welfare Reform trial and the FRC are working with individuals and families to support and encourage them to take responsibility for making a better and more meaningful life for themselves and their children."

Permanent Link: Early results show ground-breaking Indigenous reforms are working
Publish Date: 05 Jul 09