The 28 Initiatives
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
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The Northern Territory Government will build local capability by providing training and development opportunities in areas of high economic potential (mining, construction, essential services, tourism, road-building, housing-related services such as tenancy and property management, and health services). The strategy will identify current employment opportunities and ensure training options are in line with employment opportunities in Tennant Creek and across the region. Existing training and employment programs will be strengthened to deliver better employment outcomes.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The Australian Government will invest $7.6 million in youth-focused infrastructure in communities across the Barkly through the Building Better Regions Fund. The funding will be used to replace the Youth Links Youth Centre in Tennant Creek, build a cycling and walking path from Staunton Street (South) to Blain Street and construct a new Sport and Recreation Centre in Ali Curung. The Barkly Regional Council will be contributing $400,000 in-kind support to complete the construction projects.
This investment is expected to support 50 jobs during construction and 35 ongoing jobs. In addition to stimulating economic activity during construction, the investment will encourage young people to engage in healthy activities, build self-esteem, enhance community cohesion and support school attendance. The youth recreation centres will become a hub for youth and community activities and workshops around sport, arts and culture, meetings and music. The cycle path will promote community safety and encourage more active transport choices. The Barkly Regional Council will maintain and operate these new facilities. Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Barkly Regional CouncilA one-stop-shop Barkly Business Hub will be established to support regional business creation and growth by building local business capacity and helping local businesses capitalise on economic opportunities in the region. The Hub will implement the economic growth strategy and support the Barkly Mining and Energy Services Hub. Functions will include:
The Hub will support capability and skill development for businesses and social enterprises, including mentoring and training support, and providing access to government support (for example grants, loans and microfinancing) for small business and enterprise development. Existing Australian Government funding programs such as the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Indigenous small business support services and microfinancing will also be leveraged by the Barkly Business Hub. The Northern Territory Government will provide office space and access to existing Northern Territory Government business support services.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
This initiative is part of the Back on Track program and supports the recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Detention and Protection of Children in the Northern Territory. It will increase the delivery of local services, create employment opportunities, increase support for youth in the justice system and enhance the life course trajectory of young people in the Barkly region. The Barkly Alternative to Detention Accommodation Facility will keep local young people participating in Back on Track and other programs who are either directed to a program by the courts or referred to a program by police, government agencies or non-government agencies.
The facility responds to regional demand for services and ensures provision of services closer to young people’s homes and family. The Back on Track program will help break the cycle of crime by ensuring that young Territorians become better people not better criminals and young people who do the wrong things face the consequences of their actions while also being taught skills to become productive members of the community. The program will involve input and leadership from the Barkly community, working together to come up with innovative solutions to help put kids back on track. The management and operation of the new facility will provide new employment opportunities in Tennant Creek.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The Northern Territory Government commits to funding government employee housing in order to provide an immediate economic stimulus and ability to return existing stock to public housing to assist with overcrowding in Tennant Creek.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The Tennant Creek watch-house will be renovated to upgrade facilities to support families and legal staff to visit prisoners. The Elders at Court program will be reintroduced and videoconference facilities will be installed in Alpurrurulam and other priority locations.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The Australian and Northern Territory governments will co-invest to upgrade the Alpurrurulam (Lake Nash) Aerodrome through the Remote Airstrip Upgrade Program. This upgrade will enhance the safety and accessibility of the aerodrome to support year-round access for residents, safe aeromedical evacuations and the delivery of essential goods and services to the community.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
A regional economic growth strategy will be developed for the Barkly region to encourage private sector growth and diversify existing businesses, including harnessing digital opportunities to expand the marketplace and address barriers to growth. The strategy will:
- Create an investment forecasting pipeline to track existing and new investment and assist the Barkly community to plan for future employment and supply chain opportunities
- Undertake cost/benefit analyses of potential economic project proposals to determine viability
- Support processes for mineral resource development in the Barkly region and related opportunities for local community economic and employment benefits, and
- Assess and remove barriers to investment. For example, an accelerated Barkly land tenure process will enable timely development of government infrastructure and business opportunities, and maximise economic development opportunities for Aboriginal land interests, including Traditional Owners.
Lead responsibility: Australian Government
The Australian Government, Northern Territory Government and the Barkly Regional Council will set Aboriginal employment targets across all occupational levels, including leadership and management positions within the local workforce, and procurement targets for goods and services from Aboriginal owned and operated businesses across the supply-chain.
The targets will align with the Australian Government Government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy (2015) and the Northern Territory existing Special Measures policy and procurement policies. The targets will be reported on annually.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government, Northern Territory Government and Barkly Regional Council
Operating from the Barkly Business Hub, dedicated staff will assist Barkly businesses to understand the opportunities that mining and energy development may present, and work with local government to provide the infrastructure necessary to attract new investors into the mining and energy industries.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The installation of a new weather radar to provide real-time weather information has been a long-standing issue for the Barkly community since the previous radar was decommissioned in 2015. The Australian Government will invest $15.4 million over 21 years (2021-22 to 2041-42) for the acquisition, installation, operation and maintenance of a new Doppler weather radar in Tennant Creek with a co-investment of $2.5 million from the Northern Territory Government. The new S-Band weather radar will provide communities across the Barkly region with more real-time and short-term weather information.
The local weather radar will improve road and air travel safety for community members and local emergency services. In addition it will support agricultural, pastoral, transport and mining industries to better manage the impact of rainfall and other weather events on their businesses. The process of site selection will commence in 2019-20 with installation expected to be complete by late 2021-22.
Lead responsibility: Australian Government (Bureau of Meteorology) with a funding contribution from the Northern Territory Government
The Barkly Regional Council will partner with local Community Development Program providers to ensure alignment of the work program with community priorities and create employment pathways for participants.
Lead responsibility: Barkly Regional Council
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
As part of the Barkly Regional Deal, a dry and secure Tennant Creek Visitor Park will be constructed for transitional and seasonal visitors from outlying communities and will provide a range of accommodation options. The consultation and design phase will investigate the feasibility of designing a scalable (or expandable) model with different types of accommodation options— such as permanent camping sites, dormitories and cabins—that can flexibly respond to demand throughout the year.
The service design model will be co-designed through a working group and in consultation with Traditional Owners, Aboriginal language groups across the region and the local community. Australian Government funding will be used for the consultation, design and construction phases (capital works) and all ongoing operational funding will be provided by the Northern Territory Government
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
A consistent and repeated issue raised by the Barkly community is the need to strengthen the collaboration, coordination and accountability of government funded and delivered services in the region. The region currently receives around $200 million per year from the Australian and Northern Territory Governments (based on 2017-18 data) and is administered through 362 programs and services. Better outcomes can be achieved from the existing spend. The current service system in the Barkly region is fragmented and lacks transparency despite the dedication and commitment of the local workforce. This has resulted in service gaps, duplication, and in some cases, the delivery of ineffective services. This is compounded by the practical challenges of delivering services in a remote location with high levels of entrenched economic and social disadvantage. Frontline government service providers describe their default way of working as having ‘… no time, no energy, poor mental wellbeing and an inability to stretch further’.
The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory (2018) (Royal Commission) found the child, youth and family service system across the Northern Territory to be disjointed, have gross inefficiencies and waste, and be less effective at achieving long lasting benefit. This resulted in lower uptake, access and trust in the services offered. The Royal Commission found that this inefficiency was largely due to a lack of meaningful opportunities for Aboriginal Territorians to be involved in the design and delivery of services that affect them.
In response to the findings of the Royal Commission, on 14 March 2019 the Australian Government tasked the Productivity Commission with examining ways to improve funding arrangements across and within the Australian Government and the Northern Territory Government and the services delivered via these funding arrangements.
A priority for the Barkly Regional Deal is improving and strengthening the local service system to ensure it responds to local priorities and needs, and results in measurable social and economic outcomes across the Barkly region. This long-term reform agenda will be implemented over the life of the Barkly Regional Deal and will be developed and implemented in the context of the Coordinated Funding Framework recommended by the Royal Commission and agreed by the Australian Government and the Northern Territory Government. The Barkly region will be a priority location to commence implementation in the Northern Territory.
This will involve:- Assessment and review of the effectiveness, efficiency and appropriateness of existing government funded and delivered services (currently underway)
- Local community involvement in the planning, design and monitoring of current and future government investment
- Strengthening the coordination and integration of frontline services
- Improving the coordination of government funding to the non-government sector
- Adopting an outcome-based approach to service planning, delivery and performance reporting to improve the accountability of government funding.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
The Northern Territory Government will increase the level and type of youth support services provided in the Barkly region. This will include the co-design of a service model in consultation with non-government organisations, Traditional Owners, Aboriginal language groups and the local community.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The Northern Territory Government recognises the need for a multidisciplinary trauma response for children and young people in the Barkly region. A service model will be developed, working with identified stakeholders to design and implement a model that addresses physical health, developmental, cognitive and mental health assessments in a safe and culturally appropriate way. The model of care is expected to include holistic assessment, intensive case management and early intervention, coordination of support for families and carers (including respite) and outreach services.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
As part of the Barkly Regional Deal, a one year (2019-20) affordability trial will be conducted to reduce the current nightly tariff to maximise occupancy rates for residents on low incomes, in particular medical patients sleeping rough. Existing Australian Government funding (under the Indigenous Advancement Strategy) was provided to Aboriginal Hostels Limited in June 2018 to repurpose the former student boarding facility into a 42 bed multipurpose accommodation facility for public housing waitlist clients, renal and medical patients, out-of-town visitors and rough sleepers.
Lead responsibility: Aboriginal Hostels Limited
In response to low student enrolment and attendance rates, and the large numbers of children and young people left unsupervised at night, the Australian Government will provide capital funding for the construction of a 40 bed student boarding accommodation facility for students in Tennant Creek and outlying communities. The Northern Territory Government will be responsible for the ongoing operations and management of the facility, including intensive case management, wrap-around social support services and the provision of suitable land. Governments will undertake community consultation to inform the design of the student accommodation facility and a broader school attendance strategy to ensure the suite of measures is responsive to the identified needs and service gaps in the Barkly region. A phased approach will be undertaken that includes a series of gateway decisions, including a feasibility study in 2019-20.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
A public-private partnership proposal with a community housing provider (Venture Housing Company) will support the construction of 20 units of social and affordable housing. This will include 10 safe houses for younger and older Aboriginal women experiencing housing stress (rent set at 25 per cent of income not including Commonwealth Rent Assistance) and 10 affordable houses for Aboriginal families with low to moderate incomes (rent set at less than 75 per cent of market rate).
The matched grant contribution from the Australian Government and Northern Territory Government represents 40 per cent of the total construction costs of the $4.94 million turn-key housing development. The housing development involves a partnership between the community housing provider, philanthropic donations (facilitated by Bank Australia), private company (T&J Contractors) and the Australian Government and Northern Territory Government. The potential for the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to provide financing assistance in the form of concessional loans, grants, equity investments (or a combination) will be investigated as part of this process.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
The Australian Government will support reactivating and building community involvement in local sports across the Barkly region. The Barkly region has a proud sporting tradition of producing successful sports people and bringing people together. This initiative will build on sporting infrastructure investments in the Purkiss Reserve upgrade, Elliott football oval, and the Ali Curung sports and recreation centre. This initiative includes the employment of two sports officers to establish social and sporting competitions for Barkly residents and visitors.
Lead responsibility: Australian Government
Improving the wellbeing of older people by supporting them to stay in their homes or assisting them to access timely and affordable residential care is a priority for the Barkly region. In addition to Australian Government funded residential and home care programs, aged care services are delivered to older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people close to their home and community through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program.
The 2018-2019 Budget committed to expand the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program by $105.7 million from 2018-19 to 2021-22 in remote and very remote Australia, to support culturally safe aged care for older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people close to home and community. Funding rounds under this program expansion commenced in 2018, with further rounds planned in 2019 and 2020. Governments will work with the Barkly community to tailor any new investment to local need.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory
The child care centre in Tennant Creek has 50 approved places and has reported limited availability. In addition, very few formal child care facilities exist outside Tennant Creek. This creates a number of challenges, including making it harder to attract and retain qualified staff with families to the region. Restricted availability of child care for foster parents also means some children have to leave their community to be placed in foster care in Alice Springs. The Australian Government is investing additional funding into the new Child Care Package to provide more support for more families. This will bring the Australian Government’s child care subsidy outlays over the next few years to almost $10 billion a year.
The new package includes a Child Care Safety Net which aims to give the most vulnerable children a strong start, while supporting parents into work. Under the Safety Net, the Community Child Care Fund makes $110 million available per annum for five years from 2018-19 to increase early learning and child care participation, particularly in disadvantaged communities. As part of the Barkly Regional Deal, the three tiers of government will work with the Barkly community and prospective child care providers to increase early learning and child care participation in the Barkly region.
Lead responsibility: Australian Government, Northern Territory Government and Barkly Regional Council
CULTURE AND PLACE-MAKING
The Australian Government, Northern Territory Government and Barkly Regional Council will establish a targeted community grants program to deliver local projects in communities and Aboriginal homelands outside Tennant Creek. The aim of the fund will be to improve liveability, strengthen local leadership and implement local solutions in line with community action plans. This could include infrastructure such as men’s sheds, sporting change-rooms and other community development activities. Community decision-making under the fund will support local capacity, governance and leadership in remote communities and contribute to a shared vision for the region. Program guidelines for the Barkly Local Community Projects Fund will be developed with the Barkly Governance Table.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government, Northern Territory Government and Barkly Regional Council
The Barkly Governance Table will oversee the implementation of the Barkly Regional Deal and advance other economic and social development priorities in the region over the next 10 years. Funding will be used to establish a ‘backbone team’ to provide secretariat, advisory and support services to the Governance Table.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
Long-standing community conflict exists between some groups in the Barkly region. The reasons for the conflicts are varied and complex, and include the history of European settlement of the region when various unrelated language groups were grouped together in missions and reserves; intergenerational trauma; the consequences of poverty and material deprivation; alcohol and substance misuse; unemployment and interfamily disagreements. The community of Ali Curung, with a population of approximately 560 people, has experienced a number of volatile conflicts and riots over the last 10 years.
As part of the Barkly Regional Deal, ongoing mediation support will be provided for Aboriginal people across the region. The mediation model will be co-designed with community members and informed by other highly effective mediation and community justice models that are designed and delivered by local Aboriginal community members. A key component of the model will involve training and empowering local community members to resolve conflict peacefully to strengthen community safety and relationships, and to divert community members from the criminal justice system.
Lead responsibility: Joint Australian Government and Northern Territory Government
The Northern Territory Government will conduct a feasibility study to assess the commercial viability of establishing an Arts Centre on the Stuart Highway with a focus on attracting visitors and developing economic opportunities in the region.
Lead responsibility: Northern Territory Government
The Barkly Regional Council will work in partnership with Traditional Owners and language groups across the region to provide information on the Council website about the rich Aboriginal and mining history of the region.
Lead responsibility: Barkly Regional Council
The Barkly Regional Council will promote the Barkly region, including using online and social media platforms, with a focus on attracting business growth and tourism.
Lead responsibility: Barkly Regional Council