Government Inaction On Wadeye

Member for Lingiari and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs Warren Snowdon said today the renewed attention on Wadeye should force the Government to come clean about progress in the Council of Australian Governments trial.

Mr Snowdon said there had been too much focus on dysfunctional behaviour in the troubled community and too little on the role of government inaction in perpetuating it troubles.

‘We’ve recently seen Aboriginal people being blamed and shamed for failing to come to terms with poverty and systematic deprivation,’ he said.

‘Clearly overcrowding and its impact on the state of housing and infrastructure is a significant factor in the troubles in Wadeye.

‘No government representative appears to have grasped this simple point, nor have they worked out that a lot of local people don’t actually want to live in Wadeye.

‘As the Council’s deputy CEO pointed out this morning, there has to be spending on infrastructure in homelands and not simply a concentration on upgrading the town’s housing and services.

‘Wadeye has been the site for one of the CAOG trials, which was supposed to give the people a say in the way the town developed as well as support through coordinated action by the Commonwealth and Territory governments.

‘The feeling I get is that the trial has been less than successful because it raised community expectations and so far has failed to deliver.

‘I find it hard to believe that the government participants in the trial not only didn’t notice the impact of the parlous state of housing and the badly-designed services on people’s health and well-being, but also seem not to have done anything about it..

‘Instead of having a spurious debate about sending in the Army to keep the peace, the COAG participants should be putting money where it’s most needed and building a better, safer and more liveable town for the people who want to be there.

‘Wadeye is not Baghdad: it’s a place where we can make progress if we have the will.

‘But it needs COAG to stop releasing hot air and pony up with the cash and the support to do the job properly’ he said.

2006-05-22