The Federal Government has excluded “outstations near Alice Springs” from the biosecurity areas.
“This means Aboriginal people who live on nearby outstations will finally be treated just like other rural residents on the outskirts of town,” says Joe Martin-Jard, CE of the Central Land Council which suggested the move.
“This means Aboriginal people who live on nearby outstations will finally be treated just like other rural residents on the outskirts of town,” says Joe Martin-Jard, CE of the Central Land Council which suggested the move.
He says the change, made on April 23, “was overdue and we are pleased that the government has listened to us”.
Now that the NT government has supervised quarantine facilities in place, permission letters excluding people from the need to quarantine for two weeks, will be only for emergencies, says Mr Martin-Jard in a media release.
“From today, my staff will be telling everyone: if you are at home please stay there. You are safest from the coronavirus in your community.”
Anyone except for essential workers must quarantine in Alice Springs or Tennant Creek for two weeks before they will be allowed to return to remote communities in the biosecurity areas across the Central Land Council region.
“This means Aboriginal people who live on nearby outstations will finally be treated just like other rural residents on the outskirts of town.”
Does this mean they will also pay Alice Springs Town Council rates?
@ Simon Pettit: My understanding is that Aboriginal people close to town, e.g. on the “Golden Mile,” do not individually own the properties.
These properties are owned by a trust.
Do Aboriginal trusts pay rates?
Of course they should pay rates but I don’t think they do.
We residents understand the importance of having biosecurity roadblocks for communities.
But we at Iwupataka, which comprises of 18 homelands, do not have a store or a clinic to service our needs.
Alice Springs is our service centre. We are Serviced by the Ingkerrke Outstation Resource, we do pay to Ingkerrke to have these services delivered.
Many tax paying residents work in Alice Springs.
All of us shop in Alice Springs, we all access our medical needs in Alice Springs.
In regards to rates, we don’t have any services delivered to us by the Alice Springs Town Council.
@ Resident of Iwupataka: How much annually do outstation residents contribute to services provided to them?
The bulk of the funding comes from government.
The NT Government continues to provide $220m under the Stronger Futures Legislation.
The NT Government is deeply in debt.
Money is being borrowed to pay for the services provided by the Ingkerrke Outstation Resource.
I would think that outstation residents do not pay council rates and neither do they pay for services provided by the Ingkerrke Outstation Resource.
Happy to be wrong. How much do residents pay?
Very good point. Peter. That needs an answer from the Resident of Iwupataka!