Australia’s welfare system faces fresh scrutiny after Aboriginal payout

Criticism of a jobs scheme labelled as ‘racist’ has raised questions about Canberra’s approach to welfare and treatment of Aboriginal people in Australia’s poorest areas, Steve Evans reports

An Australian Aboriginal flag flies next to the Australian national flag in Canberra (EPA-EFE)

The Australian government is wrestling with how to replace a jobs scheme branded “racist” after it agreed to pay A$2m (£1.1m) in compensation to hundreds of Aboriginal people who said they were subjected to discrimination.

The Community Development Program (CDP), which is better known as “work for the dole”, required people in remote outback areas – home to a high proportion of Indigenous communities – to work up to 25 hours a week to receive income benefits. About 80 per cent of the participants were Aboriginal.

Yet a successful class action on behalf of 680 participants of the CDP said it discriminated against them because it set harsher rules than other welfare schemes, while critics said it drove many vulnerable Aboriginal people deeper into poverty.