Annual Report

Annual Report

AREYONGA 2004 - 2005

THE BIG PICTURE - LOOKING 10 YEARS AHEAD:

Areyonga's purposes can be summarised as .......

• provide services improve living standard, housing, transport, agriculture and pastoral industries.
• Foster academic, social, cultural, religious and recreational activity
• Encourage and develop a sense of community spirit and responsibility and provide for order and discipline.

IT WAS RESOLVED IN THE OCTOBER 2004 COUNCIL MEETING THAT AREYONGA BEGIN TO DEVELOP ENTERPRISES WHICH LEAD TO ECONOMIC INDEPENDANCE, SO THAT BY 2014, AREYONGA WOULD HAVE WORK FOR ALL AND OUR YOUNG PEOPLE WOULD BE ABLE TO MOVE STRAIGHT FROM SCHOOL INTO WORK OR FURTHER EDUCATION.

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

Our operations include the following ....

1).Provision of reliable town water, power, sewer, and electricity supply services. A small group of men manage this function under the guidance of a qualified tradesman.

2).Maintenance of the airstrip, roads, cemetery, community buildings, community vehicles. Works team carry out ongoing inspection, reporting and maintenance.

3).Provision of sport and recreation services such as swimming pool, football, recreation hall, basketball, softball and Out of School Hours Care. We have a good program operating which provides a varied range of activity each day. School holiday programs are conducted within the community and with trips away. Sometimes we invite groups to come to conduct holiday programs.

4).Management and maintenance of public housing services. Our houses are in fair condition but many are overcrowded. We have a Housing Manager, an Indigenous Housing Officer, a person in the Council office who takes reports of problems and a works team.

5).Care for aged, vulnerable and frail community members through welfare programs. We provide 3 meals per week to 12 people and we deliver services that meet other needs. Six of these people will soon benefit from an increased level of support.

6).Provision of the following services:- Centrelink, Banking, Australia Post, Bill payment. While we provide these services it is very difficult with the low level of staffing provided for. The office is open for most of each week day and staffed by 1 or 2 people.

7).Care of the natural environment so as to remove unauthorised waste dumps and re vegetation with native plants. We have only just begun this activity. We are preparing to remove rubbish from areas around the community and to re vegetate. Also we are preparing to remove large numbers of feral donkeys, horses and camels so as to allow native flora to grow and for native fauna to return.

8).Ara Irititja - historical archive and library service development. This is new initiative which is very popular with community members. A computer has been set up in the council office for people to come and find old photohraphs of family and community events.

9).Employment and training programs. The need for education and training amongst adults is great. We have established an adult education classroom and we are trying to develop a technical skills training workshop. Projects conducted in partnership with CDU and the company, ITEC have increased the level of skill and the level of wages earned.

Training CONDUCTED:

· St John's First Aid Certificate – 10 successful candidates.

· Grader drivers course – 5 successful candidates.

· Drivers license course – 9 successful candidates.

· ESO training for two staff – Roger Chapman and Albert Gallagher.

· Certificate 3 in Aged Care. – Jill Steel, Judy Brumby, Raelene Wilson

· Internet banking for community members.

· Centrelink Training with visiting regional staff from Alice Springs and sessions at the Alice Springs Centrelink Office – Jill Steel, Joanne Impu, Rosemary Long

· Essential Services Officer Albert Gallagher -Workplace Training - PAWA

· Computer literacy - CDU MALU unit – numerous participants

· Two weeks of Media training with Deadly Mob

10). This year saw the commencement of a monthly community newspaper “Tjalkulpa Kuwaritja”. Its purpose is to provide information to community members and to encourage the development of literacy skills in English and Pitjantjatjara.

11). Re-opening the roads down the Areyonga valley and Namatjira’s Prospect has enabled many people to access these lands again. Many people (with their families) are now spending recreation time in these valleys rather than going to Hermansburg or Alice Springs.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Future plans include the restoration of some disused buildings and upgrade certain facilities, that will enhance our community development aspirations.

1).TECHNICAL TRAINING:

Preliminary work has commenced on the restoration of an abandoned garage so as to develop it into a "training workshop" where work skills can be learned. The NT Government has agreed to release $25,000 towards the cost of restoring this facility and will seek other funds for equipping. The facility will be available for use by training agencies who wish to conduct technical training programs in Areyonga.

2).CRAFT INDUSTRY:

Restoration and upgrade of an old historical building as a women's craft centre. This will replace the existing work centre and it will provide an attractive display function unavailable in the existing building. 2004 – 2005 capital infrastructure grant will be expended on this project.

3).AGED CARE:

The Commonwealth Dept for Health and Aging has endorsed Areyonga to receive CACP funding. This will allow provision of improved care of the aged. Construction of a Day Care Centre for the aged is planned in partnership with Charles Darwin University (CDU) and the Department of Health and Ageing. CDU will construct the unit as a student project and they will train 8 Areyonga men to join the units and finish off the project. These men have the potential to gain Construction Certificates 1 & 2 by participating in the project.

4).COMMUNITY EDUCATION:

We have acquired 6 second hand Pentium 3 computers. Five will be set up in our adult education classroom and one will be used for internet banking service for community members. The computer suite will be available for personal skills or for use by training and education providers such as BatchelorCollege, DEET, CharlesDarwinUniversity, or commercial providers. IAD (Institute for Aboriginal Development) is interested to provide a full time lecturer for adult literacy and numeracy instruction. Housing will need to be found for this to progress.

5).TOURISM:

We are currently developing a plan for a sustainable tourist industry. We plan to work in cooperation with the NT Tourist Commission to develop an industry which will lead to increasing degrees of financial independence

6).AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT:

In cooperation with CharlesDarwinUniversity and Work for the Dole we have embarked on a scheme to develop orchards and wood lots. The program will take many years to fully come into effect and will involve the removal of feral animals from the AreyongaValley, establishing fruit and native timber tree plantations and re-vegetation of badly affected areas with native flora.

7).SPORT & RECREATION:

Sporting is an important recreational activity for our young people. Our current oval is outside our valley. Plans to establish a new oval 500 metres from town are under consideration. Travel to regional social and cultural events are also important to maintain a healthy community life. We plan to purchase a community bus to serve the needs of community members. Funding has been secured for these two items through a Shared Responsibility Agreement (SRA) with the Indigenous Coordinating Centre (ICC).

We also want to upgrade our basketball court. It needs to be resurfaced to prevent tripping and we want to have a roof over it so that it can be used during the day in summer.

We have many talented young people so we want to find a salary for a Youth / Sport and Recreation officer to work with them.

8).ARA IRITITJA:

Ara irititja project is a computer-based collection of photographic, audio and video social and cultural history. The collection contain more than 40,000 photograph and other material, Anangu can access this material through our developing Library service. This service has only just begun and we wish to collect further historical records, relevant literature in the local languages, as well as provide the opportunity for people to learn to read and write their native language.

9).BRACCS:

We currently re-broadcast radio and television services for use by local residents. CAAMA service our equipment and have advised that two of our transmitters need to be upgraded. We also wish to develop a local television news service and a radio broadcasts. To do this we need to identify funds for salaries.

10). LAW & ORDER:

The incidence of substance abuse is minimal in Areyonga due to the strong policy of no tolerance. There are occasional outbreaks of alcohol abuse which have an extremely unsettling effect on women and children. Petrol sniffing appears to have almost disappeared these past 4 months. We expect occasional outbreaks of substance abuse but we have a management strategy in place. This strategy involves our regular work and recreation programs supported by Night Patrols. We have no funding for Night Patrol and need to identify funds for wages and other costs.

Grog running into the community remains a devastating problem when it occurs. Provision of visitors accommodation which would allow police to stay overnight would provide an added deterrent to substance abusers.

11). CDEP:

The recent granting to Areyonga of 70 CDEP places will enhance our chance of success of the above plans. CDEP appears to be the ideal program to help us develop our community to the point where we have sustainable enterprises and service delivery

FINANCIAL AFFAIRS

Areyonga has a good record with financial management because it follows the NT Accountancy policy.Most purchases are made through an order book system.

Accounts are presented at council meetings and paid by our accounting service in Alice Springs.

Monthly financial reports help us monitor our spending and income.

Quarterly financial reports are sent to relevant funding agencies.

Accounts are audited annually.

STATISTICS and PERSONEL

Areyonga Community Inc.

Organisational Chart - 2005

SERVICE DELIVERY MANAGEMENT

Service delivery:

During 2005 Areyonga Council will implement a sub committee system to improve our service delivery. These sub committees, while remaining accountable to council, will be responsible to manage the service delivery. A Youth Sub Committee already operates and new ones will include Social Welfare, Works management, Enterprise development. Training for elected members and sub committee members will commence during the coming year.

FUNDING

Funding is expected to expand from $600,000 to 2,570,000 for the 05/06 financial year.

This increase is from ….

1) CDEP 1,100,000

2) CLC 250,000

3) NTG staff Housing240,000

4) NTG Training Workshop 25,000

5) NTG environment grant 9,000

6) CACP110,000

7) DEWRS S&R salary 16,500

8) ICC Oval & Bus218,000

9) Various small grants

Signed: Allen Steel, CEO ------------------------------------------

Theresa Nipper, President ------------------------------------------

At Council meeting held on 9/2/05

 
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