Further Observations
Since the NTER at the community office the council has been required to provide an increased level of accommodation services, the burden on the Centrelink officer has increased markedly to the degree that the administration officer is now required to assist with Centrelink work and her work is not being completed and the CEO has less time for community liaison, governance and administrative work due to the increased request from the increasing numbers of NTER visitors, (up to 30 visitors a week) for “entertainment”. The GBM had found the quantity of visitors coming out unmanageable as one person, whether GBM, CEO or council chairperson, can only listen and interact with a limited number of people at a time, however he also found his recommendations to reduce visitor numbers was ignored.
In regards to power and water, the increased amount of power demand required for the increased number of visitors and housing means the community generators are now running at an increased level. This has increased the need for fuel deliveries and therefore indirect costs to the community. Due to the increased workload expected of the long term community staff, routine general maintenance jobs related to power and water infrastructure are falling behind.
Through the NTER funds were provided to fence the tip, pave the yard at the Aged Care facility, provide an emergency exit door in the clinic and seal the clinic yard. Pressure was placed upon the community maintenance man and CEO to have these projects done as they were part of the NTER. Whilst the community maintenance man was fencing the tip and paving the yard general housing maintenance required by community residents was neglected. Council resources were used for these special projects and thus not available for general maintenance and repairs. Some major maintenance jobs initiated by the community council prior to the NTER were put off and lost impetus as the community did not want to duplicate NTER work. However the community was not consulted about the maintenance work done by the NTER and as a whole was left disheartened. This also impacted upon the integrity of both the NTER and the local GBM.
The exit door at the clinic is very much valued by the clinic staff. On more than one occasion staff and community members had been trapped in the clinic due to a lack of exit door and on one occasion a young man smashed his way through the brick wall of the clinic to get to his wife who was hiding with the nurse in a cupboard due to the lack of exit. Staff and community members feel much safer with the exit door and much appreciate the NTER funding that enabled its provision.
The surfacing of the clinic yard was another disappointing job with no quality control. No prelimary work was done to level the area and bitumen was sprayed straight onto loose dust. Consequently the bitumen contains large dips and hollows which will fill with water when it rains and it is liable to break up quickly due to the lack of preparation. This was another job where the provider said we couldn’t expect Alice Springs standards in the bush. The provider had traveled to the community to view the site and discuss work to be done prior to putting in a quote. It is disappointing that sub-standard work once again is accepted and signed off for remote communities.
The impact of large numbers of non-Indigenous visitors to the community through the NTER, has resulted in many of the stronger members of the community moving away or continually moving around from community to community both interstate and within the NT, in order to avoid being continually called upon to “entertain” them. The results in the local non-Indigenous staff having a greater burden placed upon them and the few Indigenous leaders left in the community being expected to make complex decisions or take on tasks they may not be either the right person for or qualified for. It also made it difficult for local governance to occur as local issues can not be addressed without the right people present, i.e. store meetings and council meetings. The NTER staff overall are relying heavily on the good will of existing staff and residents for local knowledge and insight however it does not appear that this is acknowledged in any sphere. I feel that this pressure is one of the greatest unintended consequences of the NTER and needs to be addressed as a priority.
The NTER to date in this community seems to have been a stop gap and fragmented response. More white people have required more from the permanent Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents. It does not appear to be well coordinated with a variety of stop gap short term workers with variable skills sent out to be a burden on communities. There appears to be no understanding from the various NTER staff that communities and individuals have other things going on in their lives and that the NTER is another periphery program. When the staff has gone the permanent staff and community people are still going on with business as usual to the best of their ability. There does not appear to be any understanding of the burden visiting services place upon both the permanent staff and the community for little out come. Visiting staff rely upon the trust and rapport built up by the permanent staff for their service, and seem to have little comprehension of the huge responsibility they as visiting services have to not betray that trust.
It is acknowledged that these impressions and experiences only reflect one small remote community of the Northern Territory and can not be transposed to all communities. However it is unfortunate that the NTER to date has been largely ineffective for this community.