This briefing paper provides an overview of the Community Development Program (CDP), with a particular focus on the impact of the CDP in the remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) communities in the north west of South Australia.  

The Paper then provides commentary on the proposed reforms to the CDP – announced on 8 May 2018 by the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, as part of the 2018-19 Budget – and the provisions included in the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Community Development Program) Bill of 2018 (the Bill).

The provisions in the Bill have their origins in Minister Scullion’s announcement of a review of the CDP in May 2017 in order to reform it in response to its acknowledged faults. However, the proposed Bill has not addressed the faults and the CDP has not been reformed but, instead, the provisions in the Bill will make the Program more punitive and will push remote residents into further poverty.