The Guardian 6 April, 2005
"Special treatment":
the case of Wadeye
Bob Briton
Along with the regular junk mail, Territorians recently received a different sort of glossy
brochure in their letterboxes. It contained the same upbeat message from the Northern
Territory government that was being pushed by authorities in the media. Education
featured. "Building better schools — $42 million plan for Territory schools", the brochure
trumpeted. It went on to say that following a review of education in the territory by Dr
Gregor Ramsay throughout 2004, the decision had been taken to invest the impressive
sum over the next four years.
Elsewhere, newspapers were carrying the news that NT Chief Minister Clare Martin and John
Howard are about to sign off on a five-year agreement on Aboriginal service delivery. The pact
will be part of the new, post-ATSIC arrangements that will see 11 Commonwealth departments
and various state, territory, local governments and community groups take responsibility for
Aboriginal service provision in a new flexible "whole-of-government" approach.
Eighteen portfolio secretaries and the public service commissioner have been involved.
Interdepartmental committees and taskforces have been established. There is a new office of
Indigenous policy coordination. In 2002, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
nominated 10 Indigenous communities to trial a new regime which incorporates the controversial
"shared responsibility agreements".
One such agreement is for the Bonya community in the NT. It would get a store selling nutritious
food and providing training on a "revenue neutral" basis (no loans or credit) if residents would
guarantee a 96 percent school attendance rate and participation in school activities. They would
also have to take part in education programs on subjects like nutrition, dog health and budgeting.
Fifty such agreements are due to be drawn up by mid-year.
Another Aboriginal community singled out for "special treatment" is Wadeye — NT's largest,
formerly known as Port Keats. The Prime Minister is due to visit the community shortly as part of
the campaign to sell the federal government's rehashed paternalism. Wadeye presents a
problem, however. Community elders beat government authorities to the punch long ago with
their own "shared responsibility agreement" — known locally as the "no school, no pool"
policy.
Kids would not be allowed out of the sweltering heat and into the new community built swimming
pool if they did not go to school. Last year, enrolments at the Catholic-run school jumped by 50
per cent to 582 out of the school age population of 700. Attendance rates have gone up by a
similar margin.
Unfortunately, the rule exposed just how poor the resources available to the community are.
Many of the students still have to sit on the floor. A barge is due to arrive shortly with 40
additional desks and chairs. More staff are needed. Mr Moore, originally from the NSW town of
Hartley Vale, has 58 boys aged 13 to 19 years in his class. "It would be lucky if a quarter of them
could write their own names", he told The Age last month.
The school has only one space which is not suitable for the numbers that have come back.
Despite the best efforts of the staff, the quality of the education available at Wadeye is
suspect.
Wadeye suffers the same problems as many other remote communities — substance abuse,
unemployment and violence. Infant mortality is four times the national average. Life expectancy
is 20 years less than that of non-Indigenous Australians. Federal Minister for Family and
Community Services Kay Patterson recently announced funding for a doctor, two health workers
and a nurse for Wadeye, which has a population of 2500. Until now, the local clinic has not had a
doctor, obliging residents to take costly flights to Darwin for treatment of serious injuries and
ailments. An average of 17 people live in each house in the community.
On the subject of education again, researchers from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy
Research at the Australian National University found that for every dollar spent by the federal
and NT governments on the education of the average Territorian, they spent 26 cents on the
residents of Wadeye. Even if the funding were divided among only those who attended school,
the amount only climbs to 54 cents for every dollar spent on less disadvantaged populations. So
much for the failure of the policy of "throwing money at the problem"!
This is the type of disadvantage the Howard government is saying it is going to eradicate with its
new plans for service delivery. The new scheme for schools like Wadeye's — to work in
conjunction with the NT government — replaces the one that had been in place since 1979 when
the federal government agreed to move funding for former mission schools into the NT's "global
allocation" for schools funding. Despite all the bureaucratic paper shuffling, the most recent
round included, communities like Wadeye continue to live in miserable
circumstances.
Still, this fact will not stop governments from basking in all the "progress" being made. Clare
Martin recently dismissed criticism about the quality of education in remote Indigenous
communities. "If you want to look at whether we're getting results, look at the MAP testing results
from Yuendumu School this year, there's been a kind of increase in literacy and numeracy at
grade five level … I say well done Yuendumu and Port Keats, Wadeye. Three years ago there
were 47 kids attending school, this year we've started with 600."