First Nations Workers Alliance

Funding area: Inclusive economy

The First Nations Workers Alliance was established by the ACTU in response to providing Indigenous members with a union where their concerns and aspirations are heard and represented.

Visit website: fnwa.org.au

Grants

2020 First Nations-led Grant, $50,000

Abolishing the Community Development Program

Mannifera has been the first and, so far, the only philanthropic funder of the First Nations Workers Alliance’s campaign to abolish the existing Community Development (work for the dole) Program and replace it with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led solutions and the dignity of fair work.

The Community Development Program (CDP) is a work-for-the-dole program that only operates in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It is, in many respects, inherently unfair, disempowering and racist. In May 2021, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP announced a new remote jobs program will replace the CDP in 2023.

The First Nations Workers Alliance continues to campaign with CDP workers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders to provide the community-led alternatives to the CDP that support self-determination.