Lindsay Murdoch
Darwin
September 13, 2007

Article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the CDEP program changes and the impact on the Aboriginal ranger programs and Aboriginal art industry.

Quoted from the article:

The Northern Territory Chief Minister, Clare Martin, has warned that axing the program will cut an economic lifeline to the communities, where there are often no alternative forms of employment.

She cites the hundreds of indigenous jobs at art centres, which generate tens of millions of dollars of income each year. “I call on the Prime Minister to halt the process of abolishing CDEP and sit down with us and Aboriginal arts organisations to work out a new way forward for employment through the Aboriginal art centres that are the backbone of the industry,” she said this week.