The width of the Northern Territory
I was involved in local government before Central Desert was formed, so altogether I’ve been involved in local government for about 10 years.
Central Desert Regional Council was formed on July 1 2008 as a merger of the Anmatjere Community Government Council, Yuelamu Community Inc, Arltarlpilta Community Government Council, Nyirripi Community Inc, Lajamanu Community Government Council and the Yuendumu and Willowra Community Government Council.
Central Desert regional Council has one of the biggest council areas.
It is the size of Victoria, and we have nine communities spread out over the area.
Council’s area stretches the entire width of the Northern Territory.
The President’s job is a full time position for me, but I also fill some other roles including working at one of the community stores.
I am also a delegate for the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory, and attend the meetings every six months in Darwin and Alice Springs.
Funding and Training
Central Desert Regional Council faces a few different challenges.
One of the challenges is providing training for jobs to our people.
Housing is also really, really important for our communities, and is another challenge we face.
Funding is also really, really important.
If we don’t have the funding, we can’t run the programs that we need to, like training for our people.
A success I had with council was securing the contract for Territory Housing.
Another success was securing funding for the Yuendumu Childcare Service.
The Childcare Service would have closed if we had not received funding for the program.
The challenges of distance
Local government is all about looking after your community.
If you get to do that, you can make a better community.
In my role I do a lot of travelling.
A good president should work really hard for their people and with a really strong council you can get the best results for everyone.
It can be driving from meeting to meeting for hours at a time to do this job.
It is very difficult.
The hardest part of being a councilor is being away from your family.
Managing time between your family, traveling to meetings and working for council is a challenge.
If things pop up, like feeling sick, it makes it all very hard to manage.
Outside of council I enjoy playing footy.
In Alice Springs every fortnight there is a footy competition and I enjoy playing in that.
Apart from that, I also enjoy lots of sports.
