Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Shadow report to the CERD Committee – 8 July 2010 30 CDEP was created under the Fraser government in 1977 as a form of community engagement in the job creation market. Essentially, the CDEP scheme is predicated upon the use of block grants (that total the equivalent of the unemployment benefits that would otherwise be available to Aboriginal people within certain communities) being made available to community controlled organisations. These organisations then have the capacity to manage their own projects and finances in line with the aspirations and skills of the community in which they operate. The CDEP scheme has enabled many Indigenous communities to develop valuable community services e.g. night patrol services; childcare centres; cultural and natural heritage programs and garbage removal services (Unpublished, Job Futures response to government discussion paper: Indigenous Potential Meets Economic Opportunity, (2006), p2. Response provided by Job Futures to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.). However, the CDEP scheme has also been criticised by Indigenous peoples and governments for reasons such as limiting the engagement of Indigenous peoples in mainstream employment opportunities that earn ‘real wages’. 31 CDEP participants in remote areas are able to access CDEP wages until 30 June 2011 to support their transition to the new arrangements. 32 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 6287.0 - Labour Force Characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, Estimates from the Labour Force Survey 2009, At http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6287.0~2009~Chapter~Unemployment (viewed 25 June 2010) 33 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Social Justice Report 2009 (2009), ch 3. At http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/sjreport09/chap3.html (viewed 18 May 2010). 34 Australian Bureau of Statistics, The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 2008, ABS cat no 4704.0 (2008) p46. 35 Miloon Kothari, Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Addendum - Mission to Australia (31 July to 15 August 2006), U.N. Doc. A/HRC/4/18/Add.2, ( 2007), para 80. At http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G07/125/72/PDF/G0712572.pdf?OpenElement (viewed 18 May 2010). 36 See Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Submission on the Green Paper: Which Way Home? (2008). At http://humanrights.gov.au/legal/submissions/2008/20080704_homelessness.html (viewed 18 May 2010). 37 The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth report, Housing the Homeless: Report on the Inquiry into homelessness legislation recommends that new housing legislation specify the right of all Australians to adequate housing, which should include appropriate reference to Australia’s international human rights obligations, a definition of adequate housing and explicit recognition that the right to adequate housing will be progressively realised. House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth, Housing the Homeless: Report on the Inquiry into homelessness legislation (2009). At http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/fchy/homelessness/report/fullreport%20as%20at%2025%20 Nov.pdf (viewed 18 May 2010). 38 COAG has also agreed to a National Affordable Housing Agreement, a National Partnership Agreement on Social Housing and a National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, which also address elements of Indigenous housing and homelessness. These are available on the COAG website at http://www.coag.gov.au/. 39 Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Addendum: Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Australia (2010), UN Doc A/HRC/15, para 74. At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/countryreports.htm (viewed 18 May 2010). 40 Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Addendum: Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Australia (2010), UN Doc A/HRC/15, para 74. At http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/countryreports.htm (viewed 18 May 2010). 54