Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership
[3] The Institute prepares reports and submissions to the Australian Federal Government, identifying priority areas of welfare and economic reform to restore social norms within the Cape York communities.
[1] The Cape York Institute receives Commonwealth and Queensland State Government funding to support Welfare Reform Projects in areas of Indigenous education, employment, families and housing.
[7] The Institute works towards encouraging and providing greater economic participation of ATSI peoples in the public and private domain by implementing income management schemes to promote socially responsible standards of behaviour among Cape York residents when accessing welfare benefits to education, employment and housing in regional communities.
[8] The Agenda's vision promotes Indigenous independence from the welfare system[9] and seeks to deter ATSI peoples from engaging in antisocial behaviour[10] by growing private home ownership, increasing participation in the Australian workforce and primary and secondary education.
[16] It was proposed that the FRC be set up as an independent statutory entity, holding members of the Cape York communities accountable to responsible expenditure of welfare payments through the Family and Conditional Income Management Schemes.
[18] Furthermore, the report highlighted increased access to the government funded ABSTUDY payment scheme to support education costs and broaden living allowance benefits[15] to ATSI youth school boarders.
[21] To progress Indigenous home ownership within Cape York, the Report advocated the normalisation of tenancy agreements facilitated by a third party broker and the building of affordable houses in rural and remote areas.
[12] This includes a recorded criminal conviction, engagement in anti-social behaviour (gambling, alcohol and substance abuse), non-compliance with a tenancy agreement and failure to protect children from neglect, harm and unexplained non-attendance at school.
[16] The FRC case management role includes holding conferences with community members of Cape York to determine whether the resident has complied with welfare payment obligations.
[20][18][19] Changes included the transfer of employed Residents from CDEP supported wages to Conditional Income Payments, with monitoring of individual's expenditure and progress by the Institute and Family Responsibilities Commission.
[14] Amendments to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Act 1991 (QLD) authorised private residential leases for the duration of 99 years,[15] enabling Indigenous Residents seeking to buy or build a home to have access to monetary grants from their respective income providers.
[20] The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and the Social Policy Research Centre conducted an Implementation and Outcomes Review of the Cape York Trial in 2013.
[13] The implementation of the Trial in the education stream gave rise to the establishment of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy (CYAAA) in the communities of Aurukun and Coen in 2010, followed by Hope Vale in 2011.
[31] For NAPLAN, participating students (from years three to seven) surpassing the national minimum average of test scores in numeracy and literacy increased in number whereby schools received CYAAA assistance.
[14] In Mossman Gorge and Hope Vale the immediate addition of Business Districts constituted higher rates of economic opportunity growth with a 20.3 and 23.4 percentage increase in employment levels from 2006 to 2011[27] In the area of housing and management of tenancy arrangements, the Trial implemented 442 rental agreements across the four communities.
[14] Difficulties in securing the transition of residents from public housing into private home ownership was outlined by the Social Policy Research Centre’s findings, recording no purchase of property in Trial communities of Aurukun, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge.
[13] In the Trial’s one year extension in 2013, the Australian Government funded 2.7 million dollars to aid construction of sewerage, water passage and electricity systems, providing incentives for potential home buyers.
