Speaking at the recent Local Government Managers Australia’s National Congress, Martin Horton, from the UK’s Improvement and Development Agency (I&DeA) told delegates that Local Governments do not talk enough about “real people and real places”. Putting it bluntly, he said that if Local Government “screws up”, it can really muck up people’s lives.
Around the nation, Councils provide a host of services and programs that make a huge difference to their residents’ quality of life. But limited resources usually mean some things may not always get as much attention as they deserve. Working closely with the community to determine priorities assists many Councils to ward off some of the criticism for inaction. In most areas, Local Governments can muster in kind support from community groups and volunteers. Local businesses and the not for profit sector also contribute to community life in a range of ways. Many Councils are quite adept in rallying their assorted stakeholders which works as a win win situation, especially in regard to applications for grants from the Federal and State Governments.
But, like everything in life, some organisations will always be better at what they do than others. So long as your Council is doing the best with what it has and the resources it can muster, what more can your residents expect? So imagine the difficulties faced by Councils in remote Indigenous communities. Providing services for Australia’s most disadvantaged residents is a massive task. In many cases, the Local Government body is the key service provider for hundreds of kilometres. If it doesn’t take on an agency role for various Federal and State responsibilities, that service will simply not be available to its residents.
With small populations, often non existent rate base, additional costs due to long distances on mostly dirt roads, difficulties in first attracting and then retaining good staff, their problems are endless.
Recent media and political attention to the plight of people living in remote Indigenous communities spiralled in on the law and order issue. But much relating to law and order stems from other systemic problems. Inadequate housing results in a number of families and extended families all living under the one roof. Education and health services are also failing many people in these communities. Unemployment, with few opportunities for a job, is another reality of life.
The Federal Government’s formulae for providing financial assistance grants to Local Government is yet another impediment for these Councils. The Local Government Association of the Northern Territory (LGANT) says the current funding formulae discriminates against the smaller States, especially the Northern Territory.
It points to Croydon Council (population 287) in North Queensland which receives $1,378,972 per annum, while the Papunya Council (population 390) west of Alice Springs in the NT receives a mere $49,409. Similarly, the Thamarrur Council at Wadeye (population 2,406) receives $353,014, yet Winton Council in Queensland (population1,611) received $2,208,820. LGANT said that if Thamarrur was to receive equivalent funding to Winton, on a per capita basis, it should get $3.3 million. LGANT argues that every Council in the Northern Territory is disadvantaged by this system and is calling for urgent action to address this situation.
Under the current funding formulae, a redistribution would mean some States and their Councils receiving less that they currently do. Even if a flat per capita formulae was applied where every resident across the nation received the same amount, this would not address the fact that, per capita, it costs much more to deliver Local Government services to a resident in remote areas than a person living in major cities. Neither would it begin to redress the massive disadvantage and current lack of adequate services within remote communities without substantial additional funding to start bridging this gap.
As a modern first world country, a country that is fulfilling a vital role in assisting a number of our near neighbours, as they recover from natural disasters or address political unrest, the right of our people living in remote Indigenous communities to share in all the advantages this great nation has to offer can wait no longer.
