The CDEP program was a not-for profit community-managed
organisation in the inner city, run in conjunction with Centrelink.
It allowed people the opportunity to voluntarily give up
their welfare entitlements in return for working 15-18 hours a week and earning
those benefits. It also provided education and skills for the long-term
unemployed to enter the workforce.
“I was involved with the CDEP since 1996 in Redfern. I
started off as a truck driver and
CDEP participant,” said Mr Weatherill who graduated from the
scheme to eventually become CDEP Coordinator in 2000, helping hundreds of
others on welfare make the transition to full-time employment.
Mr Weatherill felt that being a former CDEP participant gave
him an insight into the plight of the long-term unemployed. “I was one of the
boys, sort of thing. For me it made it easier. I understood them. I knew what
was expected of me,” said Mr Weatherill. “Around the Redfern area where a lot
of people have alcohol problems and drug issues, CDEP was used to get people
into a work ethic.”
Weatherill and his team would work closely in the community
to develop programs and provide mentoring and support for those unable to break
the welfare cycle. “We’d keep a close eye in the first month [on CDEP
participants]. That’s how we pinpointed those who had the ambition to go on,”
Mr Weatherill said.
“That was a very important part of the job – the mentoring,
the daily visits. It supported them right through. We also always kept a spot
open for anyone getting out of gaol who found it hard to get a job in the mainstream.”
The Federal Government’s decision to scrap the CDEP program
in June last year saddened Mr Weatherill. “We tried to tell them these people
need it – to give them a work ethic. We knew what people wanted to do. It made
them feel proud when they got full-time work.”
Mr Weatherill believes that CDEP worked because it addressed
the social problems that underscore chronic long-term unemployment.
“It gave them their own self-esteem. Working 15 hours a week
– they were working for the dole. They didn’t have to go to the employment
service. It made them feel good to have their own money at the end of the
week,” said Mr Weatherill. “Working on CDEP they felt like they owned it.”
Mr Weatherill hopes the new government will consider
re-instating the program.
“There is a rumour going around they will. It’s just a
wait-and-see game,” he said.
“A lot people don’t have the confidence they had… Now they
are forced to go to job networks and fill out forms and if they don’t go they
get breached.”
Although Mr Weatherill is resigning because of health
problems, after suffering from two strokes last year, he is still passionate
about the Redfern Aboriginal Corporation and intends to be involved in the
future, possibly as a director.
“I’d get in there at
eight o’clock. I felt like I was starting it up – it was like my baby. I was
involved in everything from day one and was very passionate about it. Still
am.”
Photo: Ali Blogg – Caption: Dennis Weatherill
Source:
South Sydney Herald July 2008 www.southsydneyherald.com.au