23-10-2014 $1.5bn employment program has failed to get adequate numbers into work. It helped 618 people in the past 15 months get a job, but only 277 indigenous job seekers have found employment that ­lasted more than six months in ­remote regions in the past year; $ 120 million (of the $ 1.5 billion) programm has been spent so far, equating to about $433,000 per successful job placement of 6 months or longer. Only 30 per cent of the 37,000 unemployed Aborigines registered with the scheme are engaged in work for the dole. Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion declared that the system in place was “a disaster”.
Sources: The Australian, 21 oct 2014 and The Guardian 22 October 2014