Measure 6: Housing and Land Reform
6.1 Five Year Lease program
6.2 Urgent repairs to Infrastructure
In this one community NTER people came out three times over a span of months to develop a scope of works for the community houses. Apparently these people did not consult with community people or the existing council maintenance program. They did not consult with clinic staff about health infrastructure in houses. The community council had a certain amount of money put aside for upgrading community housing and did not want to duplicate spending on items that the NTER would address. When the builders arrived they still did not share with the community what they would be doing. After completing one house the maintenance person employed by the community went at the invitation of the tenant to look at the work they had done. Supposedly they had budgeted $10,000.00 per house. For this three doors had been replaced and a new toilet cistern installed. The doors that were replaced were new doors purchased and installed through the community council and replaced by three second grade doors with rough finish by the NTER builders. The builders did not replace the metal door frames only re-hung doors on worn hinges. The new toilet cistern replaced a functioning system. When the council maintenance people realized new doors were being replaced by inferior doors they went to retrieve the doors and recycle them as spares, however were unable to do so as the NTER builder’s burnt all the doors they removed. Despite being unable to give the community a scope of works the builders arrived with a container load of equipment and materials, so must have had some idea of what work they intended doing, apart from the three survey’s that had been done.
Also as part of the NTER houses were painted on the outside. This was done by a professional painter who offered employment to community members. However his scope of works was only to paint the outside of houses. This brightened up the houses and was cosmetically attractive but did little to improve physical living conditions. It is also an activity community people could have done themselves if given appropriate incentives.
The community has 46 houses for approximately 300 Indigenous people giving an average of 6-7 people per house. Houses range from two bedrooms to four bedrooms. The Aged Care facility can accommodate up to twenty residents. Housing for non-Indigenous residents is not included in these figures. Not all houses are occupied as they were built in the “wrong place’, i.e. without consultation with community people and therefore are not used. The four bedroom houses only have one toilet and bathing area as do all the other houses. It has been a community maintenance priority in the last five years to ensure all houses have functioning toilets, two functioning sinks, functioning showers and electrical safety. All houses have “swampy” air conditioners. They are all constructed out of concrete blocks with concrete floors and surrounding verandas. The kitchen/living room is communal and only the newer four bedroom houses have cupboards, benches and shelving. The forty older houses have no built in cupboards, shelves or wall hooks. The small kitchen benches are chipboard which is flaking away and impossible to keep clean. Only the four bedroom houses have stoves and ovens.
In this context people sleep on mattresses on the floor, personal possessions and clothing is stored on the floor and there is no-where to store food. Refrigerators and washing machines can be purchased at the local store. There is a free Laundromat, available 24 hours a day at the women’s centre. With the renovations currently underway for the women’s centre to be a child care centre I see the washing machines sitting in the yard, disconnected and do not know where they will be moved to. These houses need to have hooks and shelves put in. The chipboard benches should be replaced by stainless steel and the houses wired for electric stoves. The community council purchased a number of stoves and stainless steel benches for houses, and also paid an electrician to come out and rewire the houses for the stoves. With the demise of councils under the new Shire it is uncertain who will co-ordinate installation of these items. They do not seem to be a necessity for the NTER however unless people have the ability to improve their hygiene, health standards will remain low.
Four bedroom houses with one toilet can not cope with the number of people in the house. In the morning as people awake there is constant traffic to the toilet. The cistern does not have time to refill between flushes and soon the toilet is full. All it takes is a bucket of water to unblock, however if there is no buckets or knowledge this simple task is left. If the local shop does not sell soap, plugs, towels etc then there is no incentive to wash and keep things clean. If the shower has no-where to put a toilet bag, dry towel or clean clothes, except on the floor where they will get damp and wet there is no incentive to shower. If there is no private place to put a toothbrush and hairbrush to keep it safe from pets and vermin then there is little incentive to treat them as more than a one off disposable item. As houses are constructed of cement block a masonry drill is needed to put up hooks and shelves. The actual hooks and shelves should be purchased from the local store but installing them requires some technical knowledge.
I would recommend quality assurance checks for all maintenance done in communities. I have heard builders say “good enough for the bush” and “you can’t expect Alice Springs quality in the bush”. Without expecting and insisting on this level of quality then inferior work will continue to be done resulting in more costs down the track. The costs of building inspectors and transport needs to be factored in to estimates, however if quality work is done initially then savings will occur in regards to on-going maintenance. I have also heard numerous times that “the job wasn’t done correctly in the first place and that’s why there is this on-going maintenance issue” and this comment is in relation to staff housing. Work needs to be inspected by either qualified inspectors or experienced people who can give a rational for whether the work is of appropriate quality or not. Without examples of quality work, generations of community people are left to expect sub-standard dwellings, without being aware of the difference.
6.3 Permits
6.4 Community Clean Up
Prior to the NTER the community had started over the past five years to take more pride in their community and backyards. They initiated clean up days themselves. This was not obvious to short term visitors as large amounts of rubbish still littered the community. However much of this rubbish was in the public spaces such as verges and in front of public buildings, and were in areas not the direct responsibility of any one individual. It should be noted that there are plenty of rubbish bins around the community. Littering occurs as there is no incentive to use the bins. Many people would remember the anti littering laws coming in to play in main-stream Australia and the volume of rubbish along the highways prior to their advent. The sanctions given to main-stream Australians were enough of an incentive to encourage a change in behavior. Unfortunately we have not yet found similar incentives for remote communities. It also should be noted that many non-Indigenous community members do not provide good role modeling and examples in this area. Another factor affecting the amount of litter in communities is the fact that it is only three or four generations since people were walking around country. In those times all litter was biodegradable. It is a large change for people to suddenly be an example and use litter bins.
Indigenous community members wanted to express their concerns about the clean up days promoted by the NTER. Particularly in relation to car bodies, as these have been removed from the community there are less wrecks available for spare parts and a larger proportion of income is now required towards spare vehicle parts as the second hand parts are not freely available. The distance the community is from major centers and the state of the roads means transport is problematic and wear and tear on vehicles is an on-going concern. The GBM vehicle was replaced after only using it for approximately three months due to concerns about disintegration through wear and tear.
6.5 Land Compensation