Lessons from the Tiwi Islands: The Need for Radical Improvement in Remote Aboriginal Communities - The Centre for Independent Studies
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Lessons from the Tiwi Islands: The Need for Radical Improvement in Remote Aboriginal Communities

Radical change and new directions are needed if policies and delivery of services to remote communities are to be improved:

  • A single, simple, uncomplicated local governance structure should be installed for remote communities.
  • The Land Rights Act should be amended to provide more flexible Indigenous land ownership, allowing individual property rights and commercial use of land.
  • All operations of Land Councils and Land Trusts should be open and accountable, including the election of Land Trust Members by a public, open electoral process conducted by the Electoral Commission.
  • The house insurance requirement should be abolished and the money saved should be redirected to the maintenance and the construction of new houses.
  • Education strategies need to ensure that school attendance is tied to child welfare payments through Shared Responsibility Agreements.
  • The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP), Job Network, Work for the Dole and other training programmes should be integrated with real incentives and long-term sustainable jobs for those on welfare. In some employment programmes, payments should be for actual work undertaken and completed rather than for hours worked.
  • Funding should be provided for mentor/trainers directly to employers of participants in CDEP or training programmes.
  • Wage subsidies for commercial businesses should be restricted to recognition of the need for training and apprenticeships; long-term dependency on these funds for ongoing employees should be eliminated.
  • The formation and development of business competition and services normally found in the wider Australian community should be encouraged.
  • The taxation treatment of Indigenous associations and enterprises should be reviewed to ensure that profits generated are directed to programmes and projects that benefit the wider community.
  • Resident, professional staff should be increased to resource community governance structures.
  • The recruitment of additional mature Australians and young volunteers willing to take on the challenge of making a difference in Indigenous communities should be encouraged.
  • Regular and independent accountability and performance reviews for all non-Indigenous staff funded by government programmes is essential.
  • All positions funded either directly or indirectly by government should be advertised with appointments made according to standard human resource procedures.
  • Funds for public health should be reallocated and increased.
  • Responsibility for the funding and delivery of health services should be shifted to local and state governments.

John Cleary was Chief Executive Officer of the Tiwi Islands Local Government from 2002–05. Previously he was a Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1979–86 and 1988–98. He was Minister for Health, Community Welfare and the Elderly, Aboriginal Affairs, Ethnic Affairs, Environment and Land Management, National Parks, Inland Fisheries, Local Government, Small Business, Transport and Energy in Tasmania.