Joint media release from Bill Yan: Shadow Treasurer and Member for Namatjira
and
Steve Edgington: Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Member for Barkly
The NT Labor Government has once again let down the bush communities with another unfulfilled election promise from 2016 - to “deliver the most extensive return of local decision making to Indigenous communities since self-Government”.
Seven years after making this commitment to remote communities, little has been done.
Findings from the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the Local Decision Making Framework (LDM) that were tabled in May 2023, prove the Fyles Labor Government’s “delivery of LDM on the ground has been slow” and the “the outcomes are disappointing”.
Now in an underwhelming move following the recent Voice referendum defeat, the Fyles Government whose timing is questionable, has five months later presented a wafer thin, two page response, to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry.
While purportedly aiming to empower bush communities, this response reveals a concerning lack of true commitment to meaningful reform and raises questions about the Government’s
ability to deliver real change.
Commenting on the Northern Territory Government’s response, Shadow Treasurer and Member for Namatjira, Bill Yan said the committee reviewing the past three years of LDM implementation found a concerning level of "considerable confusion" within even the 11 communities with active LDM agreements.
“This confusion, coupled with limited funding, a lack of transparency, and inadequate community engagement, has prevented the potential benefits of the framework from making meaningful change.” Mr Yan said.
“Perhaps most telling is the withdrawal of the Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT from the scheme. Their fatigue and loss of trust in a process that promised genuine change is emblematic of the failures within the LDM framework and the Chief Minister’s ability to govern effectively.”
Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Member for Barkly, Steven Edgington said the proposed joint review between the government and Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APONT) regarding funding arrangements and the capacity of communities to manage service transitions must translate into concrete improvements.
“Investigations into the role of regional councils and the integration of community councils into the local government structure are overdue, and must not become mere exercises in bureaucratic process,” Mr Edgington said.
“The time for empty rhetoric and half-hearted commitments has long passed.”
The CLP is committed to returning local control through changes to local government, so that Aboriginal people have a direct say on what they need in their communities. That’s what they are telling us they want and we are listening.
