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Indigenous Communities at risk
Basic services to some of the State’s most disadvantaged communities have been put at risk by the State and Federal governments’ failure to involve Local Government in key decision making.
Speaking at a conference on Local Government and discrete Indigenous communities, WA Local Government Association CEO Ricky Burges warned Local Government’s exclusion from the Bilateral Agreement on Indigenous Affairs could affect its aims of improving services to Indigenous communities.
The Agreement was signed by the State of Western Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia in July 2006. A transition plan has since been released, to be implemented in July 2008; however a framework to determine funding requirements has not yet been fully developed.
Ms Burges said Local Governments were expected to take responsibility for delivering much of the basic services covered by the agreement but had not been involved in developing options for service delivery.
“It is ironic that although Local Government is not a signatory to the Bilateral Agreement, both the Commonwealth and Western Australian Governments recognize Local Government as a key provider in improving services to Indigenous communities,” Ms Burges said.
“The Agreement acknowledges the need for further negotiations on the adequacy of current funding; however both State and Commonwealth Governments continue to fail to develop a clear framework on how to achieve this.
“WALGA has repeatedly outlined a process to determine the powers and funding required by Local Governments to service Indigenous communities as they do others, but this seems to fall on deaf ears.”
“To now transfer responsibility for services to Indigenous communities without an adequate framework and funding would be a travesty – for both mainstream and Indigenous communities,” Ms Burges said.
“Local Government is eager to assist in addressing the needs of Indigenous communities but we must be allowed to participate fully in the process of how best to establish service delivery.
“Without adequate knowledge of community needs, funding requirements and legislative implications for servicing Crown Reserve land, Local Governments are simply being set up to fail, and that is an unacceptable outcome.”
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