RESTORE COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE

DEMAND 1

Urgently rebuild Aboriginal community  government councils.  Restore decision making power and administration of  municipal services to these councils. 

Transfer all assets seized by the shires to  the Aboriginal councils and pay compensation for all other assets sold off by the  shires.

Remove Government Business Managers installed by the Intervention.

Repeal Business Management Area Powers which grant the Minister the capacity for total control over the budgets and direction of organisations receiving Commonwealth funding.

References

The Governance Role of Local Boards: (pdf) Report by the Central Land Council examining the impact on community governance of the transition from Aboriginal community councils to the Shires. Along with detailed surveys from six communities on the role of local boards under the Shires, this report contains a clear summary of the recent policy changes.

Contested Governance: Culture, Power and Institutions in Indigenous Australia: (pdf) A major work from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), this collection of papers examines the dilemmas and challenges involved in the Indigenous struggle for the development and recognition of systems of governance that they recognise as both legitimate and effective. The book is national in scope, with a number of works looking at the impact of recent reforms in the NT including from Fraces Murphy, Dianne Smith, Will Sanders and Jon Altman.

The Return of the Super-Intendant: (pdf) Extract from an upcoming paper ‘return to the ration days’, by Paddy Gibson from the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning. These short interviews look at the community experience of Government Business Managers in the first year of the NTER.

Prescribed Area People’s Alliance statement: An open letter to Jenny Macklin demanding and end to the Intervention and the return of Aboriginal community government councils. Personally delivered by a delegation of representatives from Prescribed Area’s in February 2009.
http://stoptheintervention.org/facts/your-voice/prescribed-area-people-s-alliance

Interview with Mark Fordham: An interview with Mark Fordham, former works manager at the Barkly Shire Council at Ampilatwatja who was sacked following a dispute over his refusal to dump raw sewage near the community school. Mark discusses the failure of the Shire to provide basic services or employ Aboriginal people. Mark has sadly passed away since this Interview.

Explore the reality further here:                         What's the next demand?