Alice Springs Town Camps

In May 2009 the Australian Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Jenny Macklin let Tangentyere Council know that the Alice Springs Town Camps would be Compulsory Acquired by the Federal Government. She said she was sick and tired of offers being made by the government and rejected by Tangentyre. She would step in, at first somewhere in July, then it was 4 August 2009, to "finally" put and end to those " third world" situations with rubbish, overcrowding and disease everywhere.

I was amazed. How could there still be, in this day and age, people living in such conditions in a developed country like Australia? What brought all that on? What does Macklin intend to do and (how) would that work? What about all the Australian agencies that do 'good' work abroad in for instance Somalia and Afghanistan, 'helping communities to help themselves'? What about our backyard? My plan was to find out for myself, including visiting the actual inhabitants of some town camps and to ask them what this is all about.

I had the funny feeling I was going to open a 'can of worms'...

First up a few definitions:

Town Camp

At the moment there are 21 areas in and around Alice Springs that house aboriginal families. People set up camp there originally over half a century ago for a number of reasons, most of them besides having been disposessed, being unhappy with station work conditions back then, or were sacked and had nowhere else to go. Those people made that place their new home over the years. The different town camps contain different family groups, from areas all over Central Australia. Different languages are spoken even. Family groups are very important for aborigines, with each family having strict rules about who you can and can't communicate with, roughly explained. Two of the camps house mainly Central Arrernte people, the traditional landowners of the Alice Springs area.

The camps contain a total of around 200 houses (from tin sheds to modest homes), with a standard population of around 1500, peaking with visitors to more like 3500, according to William Tilmouth, CEO of Tangentyere Council.

Town Camp Population

The fluctuation of population in these places is said to make things difficult. Because Alice Springs is a major service centre for a vast land area, people flock in for business, shopping, visiting family and going to hospitals (many aboriginal people struggle with renal problems, diabetes). I've also heard that many town camps harbour people that have been 'kicked' out of their remote community for a number of reasons...

Tangentyere Council

First up, I've learned that the word Council here doesn't mean the same as for instance Alice Springs Town Council. Tangentyere Council is more like a corporation, a 'body', so to speak to service the town camps that it represents. Tangentyere has a banking service, a little post office, organises day patrol, night patrol, an art-centre, a research hub, petrol sniffing kick-off centre, aged care, youth services. There is a housing association that collects rent and does running repairs. There is one truck for collecting garbage.

It is funded by around 108 different grants by 30 or so different funding bodies and deals with 22 different federal and territory departments. In 2007 there were 187 full-time staff.

Compulsory Acquisition

Revoking the Special Purpose Leases.

The land on which about 15 town camps are situated, have Special Purpose Leases. Meaning that for those areas no rates are payed to Alice Springs Town Council, also meaning that no services from Council ("rates, roads and rubbish") apply to those areas... So. Revoking and replacing them with 40-year leases by the government so that government can have some kind of public housing built on that land for which it will pay.

The areas came to be "special purpose leases" because, as I understand it, over time rate-paying and collecting proved to be too difficult. Some camps are on vacant crown land and three camps are on a perpetual crown lease. Northern Territory Housing Association is the NT-government Public Housing body, responsible for tenancy and collecting rent in public housing. The town camps are currently not associated with that body. Tangentyere Coucil hopes not to become involved with them because most people in town camps are thrown out of public housing already.

By Compulsory Acquiring the land the minister seems to hope to be able to build public housing, have rates paid, so made accessible for Alice Springs Town Council and NT government to service the place like any other residential area in town.

The Stakeholders

I understood after two weeks of asking around that there are (at least) six:

1. Federal Government. Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Jennny Macklin.

2. Tangentyere Council. CEO William Tilmouth with David Donald, Housing Manager.

3. The Native Title Holders of land in and around Alice Springs, the Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation for Central Arrernte Country. Darryl Pierce.

4. Northern Territory Government with Paul Henderson as leader. Northern Territory Housing Association operates through NT government.

5. The Shires around Alice Springs, newly formed in 2008: to the south: Mac Donnel Shire, with president Sid Anderson, to the north: the Central Desert Shire with Ned Hargraves as president and then the Barkly Shire presided by Rosalie Kunoth-Monks.

6. Alice Springs Town Council, mayor Damian Ryan.

Why is it so hard to get to a satisfactory outcome for all residents in and around Alice Springs? I read and heard that the more 'abo's' are pressured, the less cooperative they become. Well, that seems to me like a human response...

Many Aborigines around Alice seem to have become very self destructive. Most of the violence (drug-induced or not) is amongst themselves. The ban on consuming alcohol in public areas in Alice and in the one in the town camps, introduced two years ago by the Howard government, seems to have some effect but moves the drinking to areas outside the ban. It certainly hasn't dimished the overal consumption (of black and white), to say the least.

I walked over to Alice Springs Industrial Area to visit the Tangentyere Council buildings. To speak to William Tilmouth and David Donald. To see if I could come for a ride to some town camps. To speak to people living there. Before all that I asked Jason at the local aboriginal tv organisation (CAAMA) shop for the local indigenous greeting word. "Palya" he said. After all, I would like to know that one for every country I go to so why not here...