Loss of FPC welfare group ‘to set us back years’

Elders say their communities will be set back by more than a decade if the FRC is axed.

Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson.

Respected Cape York elders are warning that their communities will be set back by more than a decade if the Family Responsibil­ities Commission is axed by the ­government.

The FRC, which has the power to quarantine welfare payments in five of the Aboriginal communities on the far north Queensland peninsula, is at the centre of a bruising funding stoush between the state and federal governments, leaving the independent statutory body’s future uncertain.

Scott Morrison’s department has accused Queensland of failing to accept a three-year funding offer for the FRC, but the state government says the most recent federal ­budget ignores the program­ ­completely. Queensland has guaranteed $2.262 million to keep the commission’s doors open until next July.

The FRC is at the heart of ­Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson’s decade-long welfare reform trial on the cape.

It employs 25 elders as local commissioners, who meet with families and can manage their welfare payments if children skip school, if there are concerns a child is being harmed, if a parent is convicted of an offence, or if there is a domestic violence protection order against a parent.

Hope Vale local commissioner Doreen Hart implored the state’s Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Jackie Trad, and her federal counterpart Ken Wyatt to listen to locals and keep the FRC.

“Our community 11 years ago was not a very happy place,” Ms Hart said.

“Our school attendance was low. There was lots of violence and lots of neglect of children.

“We wanted to address those issues … it’s not comfortable work but we are making a difference.

“We would say to ministers: stop dictating to us.

“We are well-educated indig­enous people who know what we want — please help us to get us where we want to go.”

Mossman Gorge local commis­sioner Karen Gibson said: “Why would they take away something that’s already working?

“Before the FRC was born, nothing was working. A lot of money went into ‘black people ­issues’ but nothing was working.”

Selina Bowen, another Hope Vale local commissioner, said she and her colleagues were ­advocates for the communities’ children.

“We’ve come a long way. We’ve been climbing this hill to get to the peak, and we’re finally there, we don’t want to slide back down,” Ms Bowen said.

Ms Trad said the government was developing a new agenda called Thriving Communities and would directly consult with indig­enous people, including the FRC local commissioners, about its shape.

“Our Thriving Communities approach is about enabling local decision-making on service deliver­y in line with priorities determin­ed by local communities themselves,” she said.

The Weekend Australian understan­ds that welfare quarantining could continue under the state’s new regime if requested by Cape York locals, but perhaps not with the FRC model.

A Queensland University of Technology review of the Cape York income management program­, published late last year, found there was “good qualitative evidence” that it helped reduce harmful drinking, drug-taking, ­violence and crime, and improved children’s overall health and school attendance.

The review praised the work of the local commissioners for deliveri­ng income management “in a way that is more culturally appropriate, promotes the restor­ation and rebuilding of indigenous authority, and is uniquely matched to the individual circumstances of FRC clients”.

But the review said that the positive qualitative data was not always supported by available quantitative statistics, which showed mixed results.