Three contrasting circumstances sum up why it’s much harder to survive in the workforce if you are Aboriginal these days. Sacked factory workers, Aboriginal workers and public servants fare quite differently in the brave new world of the federal intervention.

The news a couple of months ago that 600 car workers were to be made redundant at Ford’s Geelong factory saw admirable responses from both state and national governments. The redundancies won’t hit until 2010, but already $24 million has been set aside so the workers can slip easily back into the workforce.

The then Victorian premier told reporters “we will stand by Geelong, we’ll stand by the workforce, we’ll assist and support the workforce.” This was echoed by federal industry minister, Ian Macfarlane, with promises to subsidise private enterprise up to half the costs of moving their operations to Geelong.

Not so lucky the 400-500 CDEP workers employed in Aboriginal art centres in the Northern Territory. There is increasing evidence that the federal government is quite happy to let the majority of them lose their jobs, with little more than rhetoric about “real jobs” to ease the majority from work to welfare.

Despite a unanimous recommendation from this year’s Senate inquiry into the Aboriginal visual arts and crafts sector “that the Commonwealth pursue the conversion of CDEP-funded positions in art centres into properly funded jobs, taking an approach similar to the 2007-08 Budget initiative in other portfolio areas”, an increasingly desperate Aboriginal art sector fears the closure of a number of smaller art centres; a collapse in Aboriginal employment and a growing threat from carpetbaggers in the industry.

Although there has been some sympathy, lobbying efforts in Canberra by arts representative bodies such as Desart and the Association for Northern Kimberly and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA) have been frustrated by widespread hostility from key ministers such as Mal Brough, Joe Hockey and Sharman Stone towards anything that smacks of CDEP in the post-intervention world.

According to one source: “CDEP (in the context of the arts) is dead—it stinks in Canberra. Any mention of CDEP in the Northern Territory is unacceptable in Canberra … (some speak) with vilification and poison on the CDEP issue”.

Already, with wind backs in town-based CDEP programs around Australia, some smaller art centres in South Australia have folded, and unless the issue of employment in the art centres is resolved, it is likely other centres, especially in central Australia, will collapse. Western Australian art centres have been told they will be next.

And the plethora of government bureaucrats from DEWR now running around the bush in the Territory have done nothing to alleviate the worries. Despite public assurances from Dr Sharman Stone that no one would be “demoted”, and that “real jobs” would be available in viable employment areas, workers at a number of central Australian art centres have been told that CDEP art centre administrators would be transferred to Work for the Dole—and not into real jobs.

As ANKAA chairman Richard Birrinbirrin pointed out last month:

Nearly all of our art centre workers and artists rely on CDEP payments which have supported jobs in art centres for the past 20 years. Due to years of under-funding of Indigenous education, many or our people are not [mainstream] job ready and some never will be. They do have meaningful work though; their job is the expression and teaching of our culture. They are artists.

Keringke Arts at Santa Theresa faces a bleak future in which their moves into national and international marketing of the work of their artists will soon “not be possible”. According to Judy Lovell from Keringke:

Thus far this year Keringke Arts has hosted over 300 community visits from buyers, one International Austrade collectors’ tour, a university student group of 25 from USA for a cultural visit to Keringke Rockhole, as well as servicing a healthy wholesale business in ceramics. The men have begun their leatherwork enterprise and have undertaken successful introductory training in this area. They were due to begin a six month course in leather goods production. Preliminary talks, a site visit and plans have been held with art buying air tours from Victoria, and several local tour companies. Cultural and horseback tours were planned to begin in 2008. The RIBs broadcasting was going to join with the art centre and there were to be trainees placed in broadcasting and recording. The Ltyentye Apurte Band was set to record a second CD. The art centre has invested heavily towards being able to build a stronger on-site sales point at the community. We are producing two high quality arts publications this year, one is bi-lingual.

These activities will not be possible given the proposed changes from CDEP to Work for the dole, which does not recognize the enterprise or the enterprise activities of the art centre. We will lose our enterprise based activities soon after 30 September unless a respite is called immediately to allow time for real succession planning and consequent transition to a model which does not erode the core art centre enterprise.

Such stories are causing shock waves through the industry on the ground, one of the few industries in Australia in which Aboriginal people have a competitive advantage.

Meanwhile, the real growth in employment is being experienced in the Commonwealth public service, with an estimated 740 additional public servants being employed through the “National Emergency”. This includes an extra 140 DWER staff to manage the “transition” out of CDEP, backed up by 350 new Centrelink workers to manage the compulsory quarantining of 50 per cent of welfare incomes; and 150 new FACSIA staff. There will be around 42 extra staff in Health and Ageing, and 66 extra federal police.

How many of these are “real jobs” is debatable. Certainly very few, it would appear, are to be dedicated to family and child protection, the supposed motive for the National Emergency.