Drivers Licence Program
OUR MISSION
D2A will increase access to licensing, safe and legal driving and improve social outcomes for disadvantaged Indigenous people by establishing the Driving Force Licensing Academy.
BEING LICENCED IS KEY TO PEOPLE’S FUTURE EMPLOYABILITY
The link between unemployment and no driver’s licence for young Indigenous people is very clear.
A first and critical assumption is our reliance on a family-led model for teaching people to drive. This may no longer be appropriate, given that gaining a driver’s licence has become more challenging; that not all families have the skills, guidance and resources required; and that being licenced is key to peoples’ future employability.
The issues that we have identified impact right across government – not only on transport and road safety, but also employment and skills, policing and corrections, income support, education, citizenship and social wellbeing. The wider impact and cost are borne by Australia as a whole.
SOCIAL IMPACT OF LICENSING
- Unlicenced driving is not only a significant factor in road injury but also in the over representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
- Traffic-related offences result in fines, defaults, sanctions, state debt and incarceration.
- While Indigenous people represent only 3% of Australia’s total population, they make up more than 27% of our prisoners and 55% of the youth detention population.
- A drivers licence is a requirement for 70% of job opportunities in Australia.
- Employers use a licence as a way of assessing reliability, as well as an indication of aptitude and attitude.
WHY SHOULD WE ENHANCE INDIGENOUS DRIVER LICENSING?
Access to education and employment opportunities
Reduced interaction with the justice system
Capacity to provide evidence of identity documentation
Reduced likelihood of incarceration
Enhanced driver training and therefore improved road safety
Reduced dependency on public transport or other community or family members
Enhanced positive interaction with government
Greater opportunities for citizenship
CAN YOU COMPLETE ALL THE REQUIREMENTS TO GET YOUR DRIVER LICENCE?
Can you prove your identity?
Do you understand the road safety rules?
Do you have access to a legal car?
Do you have a fully licenced teacher and supervisor?
Can you afford to pay for the tests, and lessons if needed?
Can you read and speak English well?
Do you have confidence in ability to pass?
Can you get to a testing station?
THIS IS NOT JUST A ROAD SAFETY PROBLEM
The number of unlicenced drivers on our roads is clearly a concern – but this isn’t just a road safety problem. We found a driver’s licence is a huge asset for job-seekers, while not having one can be a gateway to benefit dependence and justice consequences.
DANIEL
WANTS WORK
Meet Daniel (17) the eldest in a family of 8. Daniel left school at 15 to look after his brothers and sisters as his parents shift work and life is tough for them. They live in a deprived area and are constantly facing the struggles of the day to day needs of life.
Daniel wants to work as a truck driver. He needs to work to support the family, but has no licence—none of his family or friends do either. He has no proof of ID and feels like he has no confidence to reach his goal. This is impacting his life, he’s broke, and is in debt.
COBI
LEAVING SCHOOL
Meet Cobi (16). He’s currently studying in Yr 11 Non ATAR subjects at school. Cobi loves practical work in particular (construction) but is unaware of the types of jobs available to him.
He is ready to leave school and willing to look for work. However he has no drivers licence, and his parents don’t drive either. This limits is access to getting a job.
CHANTAL
SOLO MUM
Meet Chantal (17), who lives with her solo mother and 3 siblings. She is dedicated to helping her siblings and
wants the best in life. Her mother is a night shift worker who drives to work with no licence. Chantal is attending a hairdressing course at TAFE.
Chantal sees getting a licence as taking too much time, costing too much, and being a big hurdle. This can have an impact on her as it will likely limit her from driving further if she gets caught, and from potential jobs.
LANA
CAN’T AFFORD A licence
Meet Lana, a young mum. She dropped out of school and spends her time as a fulltime mum. She owns a car but struggles to keep in registered.
She drives her kids to school and to get groceries—and she has no decent public transport options. She never got a licence—it wasn’t a priority. Now that she has kids she can’t find the time or money to do the training and testing. Lana is scared about getting caught driving without a licence. She has been fined before and wasn’t able to pay for things for the kids as a result
LEROY
SUSPENDED LICENCE
Meet Leroy (19), who has been offered a number of jobs but doesn’t know how to get his licence back so he can work. Leroy was a real problem in his teen years and ended up getting a licence suspension for traffic offenses even before he’d got one! Now he’s stuck. Although those troubled days are behind him and he’s changed his life, he worries that applying for a licence now will bring all the bad times back and put him back in the frame with the police and the courts.
Leroy is desperate to get his licence so he can work, enrol in an apprenticeship at TAFE and make a better impression with his girlfriend’s family. Getting a licence would be the last step in putting the bad old days behind him.
BOB
EMPLOYER
Meet Bob. Bob wants to grow his building business and is looking for apprentices who can get themselves to work site, and can drive company vehicles. In order to do so he needs staff that have a full driver licence.
One of the barriers that Bob is facing are applicants with potential to up-skill however do not have a driver licence. Bob is delaying some work because of a lack of staff, which is slowing his business growth. He is also frustrated in having to use more experienced staff on deliveries.
A NATIONAL CRISIS
SHORTAGE OF SKILLED STAFF WITH A BASIC LICENCE
From a Jobactive case load of 342 people aged 16-24, only 5 people of this age group had obtained their driver’s licence!
The graduated driver’s licence (GDL) was introduced in WA in 2012 increasing supervised driving to 50 hours and complicating the basic identity requirements by demanding 5 mandatory documents.
For low income or homeless people who’ve lost their identifying documents, such requirements like an original birth certificate create an insurmountable barrier.
There is an endemic lack of licensing access for Aboriginal people that relates to financial hardship, unmet cultural needs and an inequitable system.
BENEFITS OF TRANSITIONING FROM UNEMPLOYMENT TO WORK
What if 700 of our new program beneficiaries could gain employment after achieving a full driver’s licence? Imagine what the value of the additional income, tax revenue, licensing fees and savings over 5 years would be?
EXTRA INCOME
700 full licences per year x minimum wage $38,521.60 = $27 million
700 licences x 5 years = 3,500 new employable drivers
3500 licences x minimum wage $38,521.60
= $135 million of extra income for individuals
TAX REVENUE
The tax on annual minimum wage $4420
700 x $4420 tax = $4 million
700 full licences x 5 years = 3500 x $4420
= $15.5 million in tax revenue.
LICENSING FEES
Revenue going back to the
Dept of Transport.
Annual new driver licence application fee is $89.15
$89.15 X 700 = $62,405
Every 5 years:
new driver licence application fees
$89.15 x 3500 = $312,025
SAVINGS
Jobactive Federal savings over 5 years.
700 cases x jobseeker annual payments
700 x $14,448.20 = $10 million
x 5 years = $50 million
*Based on single, no kids newstart payments $555 per fortnight.
AUSTRALIA URGENTLY NEEDS A PRIORITY ACTION PLAN
What is clear, is that road trauma is a major economic and social cost. Indigenous people have 3x the rate of road death of non-Indigenous people.
The National Road Safety Strategy acknowledges that Indigenous people experience poor access to licensing services and associated support systems. It also found that over half of Australian jurisdictions do not target Indigenous users as vulnerable road users. The Strategy supports an investment in reducing Indigenous road trauma but is yet to roll out a national approach to substantially improved access to graduated licensing and road safety courses.
BENEFIT COST OF LICENSING SUPPORT PROGRAM
PROGRAM COSTS
- 700 participants annually
- Permit prep, ID recovery & life skills programs
- Transition to full licence using professional instructors, vehicles and supervised hours $5,000 per licence
Transition to work: 700 full licences per year x minimum wage $37,398.40 = $26 million extra individual income
COST OF ROAD TRAUMA
- $4.34M per road death
- $2B Indigenous road deaths 2005-2010
- Under-reported and probably much higher
- 3 x times more likely to be involved in a fatal road incident.
A large percentage of crashes in general have involved an unlicenced driverthose unlikely to be captured in general
training initiatives.
Massive psychological effects of a road crash as families cope with the death or disability of a family member which has a large impact in terms of emotional and also financial stress.
PROGRAM OPPORTUNITY COSTS
- Preventing one 6 week incarceration pays for 21 licences
- Preventing one death pays for 2,170 licences
- While Indigenous people represent only 3% of Australia’s total population, they make up more than 27 per cent of our prison population and 55% of the youth detention population.
- There were 10,269 general charges against Indigenous Australians in 2017/2018 in WA.
- Unlicenced driving is not only a significant factor in road injury but also in the over representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
JUSTICE COSTS
- $4B pa Indigenous incarceration
- $30,000 court & police
- $2,100 p/wk per prisoner
- $42,600 per 6 week sentence
CAST YOUR VOTES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
We are building a network of supporters who are aligning their resources with their values, in order to strengthen this movement for social change.
We will collaborate with donors from all sectors, including government agencies, private philanthropists and conscious corporates to focus on the root cause of this social and economic injustice, poverty.
PROGRAM FEATURES
The Driving Force Academy has been established to guide participants through the long and challenging process of obtaining a driver licence providing the following.
- A free Safer Drivers Course and Licensing Program for up to 700 disadvantaged learner drivers aged 16-24.
- Delivering educational workshops to promote road safety awareness and personal responsibility.
- Ultimately increasing the number of Indigenous driving instructors and assessors and improving driver practice arrangements by providing formal driving lessons and supervised driver mentoring to suit the local community and maintain cultural security.
- Support to obtain mandatory ID documents and resolve suspensions and fines by building program linkages to police and justice.
- Local Indigenous program management and delivery by a trusted community business with access to industry contracts and jobs.
- Ongoing advocacy for policy and regulatory amendments in the context of the negative impact of justice system policies and fines enforcement processes.
- Working with industry partner Hi Vis Traffic to create real opportunities for the Indigenous community in upskilling and employment in the Traffic Management Sector.
HOW YOU CAN HELP WITH SOCIAL CHANGE PHILANTHROPY
100
X $5000
=$500,000
400
X $5000
=$2 MILLION
700
X $5000
=$3.5 MILLION
IMPACT INVESTING LEVELS
MOON SHOT INVESTORS $250K
50 LICENCES
DARING DISRUPTORS $100K
20 LICENCES
CONSCIOUS CORPORATES $50K
10 LICENCES
CYCLE OF LICENSING ADVERSITY FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS
Individual and family barriers to licence participation (literacy, language, cost, confi dence
Low licence participation in Indigenous communities
Transport disadvantage in Indigenous communities
Individual and family barriers to licence participation (literacy, language, cost, confi dence
Low licence participation in Indigenous communities
PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE
D2A is looking beyond just financial or sponsorship arrangements. We seek to leverage goods, services, resources and expertise which we can benefit from in delivering our services to Indigenous youth.
We want to expand the ways D2A can be involved in a successful corporate partnership with you.
INVEST IN THE FUTURE WITH D2A
Inaugural sponsors will be offered the following:
- Access to private networking opportunities
- (with Patron, notable Corporates and Indigenous businesses)
- Sponsor acknowledgement in at least 6 LinkedIn posts over 12 months
- Opportunity to provide Sponsor Video Presentation of one award
- Opportunity to display pull-up banners and signage at any events
- Logo recognition on invitations, event promotions and social stories
- Acknowledgement in local print advertising and media releases
- Recognition as a Sponsor on D2A website (including logo and link to company website)
- Company logo at events
- Verbal recognition at events
- Invitation to the Media Launch, and VIP Reception
- Access to an Indigenous workforce
- Invaluable cultural guidance and connections
- 100% tax deductible benefits
Let us know how you would like to support D2A’s Driving Force Academy.
We appreciate your time and interest and look forward to discussing sponsorship possibilities with you.
For information email or call us:
info@desiretoaspire.com.au
08 9470 1008
D2A is a Public Benevolent Institution with Deductable Gift Recipient status
PARTNERING WITH DRIVING FORCE
Desire to Aspire (D2A) is seeking corporate, Government and Indigenous community partners to help us make a sustainable difference to the lives of disadvantaged Indigenous young people. We need your help to create a better Australia.
Walk alongside us, support our work, and you and your organisation will be part of a long-needed change, engaging and empowering young people to take charge of their lives and take care of their families. You will also be supporting Australia’s employers, large and small, in a range of industries, who are looking for employees.
For Indigenous young people a driver licence is often the key to opening doors to employment, education and training, to allowing participation in the economic and social life of the community and to improving an individual’s sense of physical and mental well-being.
D2A has established the Driving Force Academy as a social enterprise to work with young and often disadvantaged Indigenous people, D2A is working to change lives one licence at a time and to make Australia’s roads safer places for everyone.
Our organisation relies on donations to provide support through our programs and services. You can make a difference in the life of disadvantaged Indigenous young people, helping us toward our goal: happy, healthy youth having the opportunity to grow up knowing they are valued, respected and capable of great things.