Group welcomes funding
An aging water tank in the Wakathuni community, 20km out of Tom Price, could soon be replaced thanks to $15 million in State Government funding for essential services in Aboriginal communities.
WA Housing Minister Bill Marmion said the funding, which was announced in the State Budget, would be in addition to $30 million provided each year for maintaining water and power services through the Remote Area Essential Services Program.
The State Government has funded the repair and maintenance of essential services to eligible communities since 1985, with most works being undertaken through RAESP since 1997.
So far 14 communities, including Wakathuni, where it is proposed the water tank and stand be replaced, have been prioritised by the State for their critical infrastructure needs.
However, during Budget estimates hearings, it was revealed by the WA Government this list could be subject to change should other needs arise for existing essential services assets.
A spokesman for Mr Marmion's office said the State has been aware of issues facing communities, such as overflowing sewerage systems and water tanks at risk of catastrophic failure, but the provision of essential services to remote Aboriginal communities in WA was reliant on Commonwealth capital works funding which had been in decline in recent years.
"This has prevented the planned replacement or upgrade of community assets as they reach the end of their service life or are no longer fit for purpose," he said.
Mr Marmion said in a statement ongoing funding from the Commonwealth was essential to address the significant challenges in achieving sustainable improvements in remote Aboriginal communities. "More efficient delivery of essential and municipal services needs a long-term commitment from both the State and Commonwealth governments, in co-operation with local government," he said.
The spokesman said in the absence of adequate Commonwealth funding, the State had provided additional funding allocations to address the most urgent capital needs.
"These include $12.15 million for priority water treatment projects and $10 million for the Jigalong community from the Royalties for Regions program," he said.
Members of the Aboriginal corporation IBN Group live in Wakathuni.
IBN chief executive Grant Bussell welcomed the additional funding to the community and said the group would also support the State normalising infrastructure within Aboriginal communities so people would have access to good drinking water and reliable power sources.
Mr Bussell praised the work of the Pilbara Meta Maya Regional Aboriginal Corporation, which looks after the RAESP program in the Pilbara, and said IBN had also put some of its own money into community infrastructure.
"We're investigating some funding for some water treatment at the (Wakathuni) community as well," he said.
Last year, six residents of the community refurbished one out of 26 houses at a cost of $130,000, and hope to complete four more this year.
"Hopefully we can co-ordinate our efforts with the State Government and Meta Maya," Mr Bussell said. "It's expensive delivering services to these communities ... the fact is in our system, most of the money comes from the Federal Government."
