Mather questions millions invested in RATED programme

Territorial At-Large Representative Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather has raised serious concerns about the government’s multi-million-dollar spending on the RATED programme, arguing that the initiative has not delivered the intended results for workforce development across the territory.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Mather said the programme was originally designed to serve as an apprenticeship system that placed participants — including young people and seniors — in structured training positions for six months, with government support aimed at transitioning them into permanent employment.

However, he questioned whether the programme has lived up to those goals, noting the large sums invested over recent years.

“The budget last year, if my memory is correct, was four million dollars. The budget before, another three million dollars, and I’m sure before the year is out, if there is a SAP (Schedule of Appropriate Provisions), the Premier will throw maybe another million dollars at it,” Mather stated.

He said the initiative had failed to align properly with key agencies such as the Labour and Education Departments, leading to inefficiencies.

“That programme was supposed to be an apprenticeship programme that took young people or anyone, even seniors, into a career path for six months where government supplemented and then perhaps they would have moved into the private sector. But when you have that programme in isolation of Labour and Education and every other government department, your result is money being spent on what — cutting bush,” he explained.

Mather argued that while some participants may have benefited, the overall returns on the public funds invested were not satisfactory. “One, two, three, four, five stories — that’s not enough to justify the rate of investment of the public funds in the RATED programme. We should be developing professionals and careers through that programme. When you see millions and millions [spent on this programme].. We could have built a school with that and put them in it,” he stated.

He urged that future efforts focus on equipping people with skills that lead to meaningful employment rather than short-term work opportunities. “Equip people, then they’ll come out and look for the job,” Mather said, adding that the government should explore stronger partnerships with the private sector to make such initiatives sustainable.

The RATED programme, launched as a workforce training initiative, has been repeatedly criticised for lacking coordination and measurable outcomes, despite receiving significant funding allocations.