SENATOR GLENN STERLE

SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA

DUTY SENATOR FOR DURACK, O’CONNOR, TANGNEY & HASLUCK

MEDIA RELEASE

CLOSURE OF REMOTE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

I, like you, am concerned about the proposed closure of remote indigenous communities in our regional areas. 

There are two fundamental issues that are at the heart of this problem:

•          Where will the people go if they are forced to move?

•          What pressures will this put on the communities who will accept them?

The Abbott and Barnett Governments are to blame for this mess.

The federal government should never have cut funding for essential community services to Western Australia so drastically and our state premier, Mr Barnett should not have meekly rolled over and accepted the Federal Government’s cut.

No one in regional WA had been consulted; no one was told when communities would close and where people would be forced to move if they are.

Having botched the announcement, the Barnett Government has gone back to the drawing board. 

In coming weeks they will call for nominations for Aboriginal leaders to join newly formed Regional Strategic Advisory Councils in the Kimberley and Pilbara.

While the state and federal governments fight over who is going to take responsibility for servicing remote communities, those who live in them face an uncertain future and still don’t know whether their communities will be worthy of Government support into the future, what they will do if they are not and where they will go if their communities are closed.

This is not good enough. This entire process has been a disgrace. Unfair, unequal and dysfunctional.