Federal Government Continues to Fail Town Camps

Member for Lingiari and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs Warren Snowdon said today there was nothing new in comments made about town camps by Federal Human Services Minister Joe Hockey.

But Mr Snowdon said what it highlighted – yet again – was the failure of the Federal Government to get serious about dealing with the disadvantage faced by town camp people and their relations in remote communities.

'These communities have been fighting against the odds since they were established in the early 1970s,' he said.

'Those of us who actually live in Central Australia are very much aware of this and don't feel that sensationalising the plight of the people is particularly helpful.

'We are also painfully aware that the Federal Government has not only failed, it has abrogated its responsibilities to organisations like Tangentyere, who despite being chronically underfunded have worked with courage and commitment to improve the lot of town campers.

'Equating town camps to South African townships in the apartheid era is not helpful and it's in fact a condemnation of his own government who after a decade in power have done nothing to address these problems.

It's all about the government telling people what do without accepting that it has responsibilities and developing genuine partnerships to deal with the problems.

'Mr Hockey's intervention is welcome if it will lead to Government addressing what Tangentyere Council has been saying about disadvantage for decades.

'But until they face the fact of the poverty and disadvantage facing the town camps and the remote communities and decide to do something about it, nothing will change,' Mr Snowdon said.

2006-04-12