Royalties plan gains support
Aboriginal leader Wayne Bergmann has welcomed a proposal to use money from Royalties for Regions to make up for a shortfall in funding for remote Aboriginal communities.
Earlier this month, Regional Development Minister Terry Redman said he was supportive of providing Royalties for Regions funding to replace money axed by the State Government for essential and municipal services to about 180 communities.
However, he added that any funding would be linked to a "clear reform process" supported by Aboriginal leaders.
Mr Bergmann congratulated the minister for showing initiative.
"I'm very impressed with the leadership of Terry Redman that he's leading in recognising Aboriginal communities are an important part of regional Australia and prepared to look at support through Royalties for Regions," he said.
"The cost of not supporting these regional remote communities is going to be counterproductive and cost Government a lot more to rehouse people in regional centres … but there isn't the infrastructure in place to rehouse Aboriginal people in other major communities or regional towns."
Speaking to the _Broome Advertiser _last week, the KRED Enterprises chief executive urged reform concerning the handling of Aboriginal affairs and called for an open dialogue regarding the future of the remote communities.
"There's always been a need to look at more efficient use of funding to Aboriginal communities," he said.
"But I think it's also about needing a paradigm shift in attitude about what our expectations are of those Aboriginal communities and entering into a transparent, informed debate about which communities are going to survive the test of time and it requires a shake-up of Government.
"I would welcome any opportunity to meet with Terry Redman to talk about how we can remould the sustainability of regional Aboriginal communities."
Mr Bergmann also said a reduction of red tape was needed to support remote communities financially.
"I think we can find cost savings by cutting a lot of the bureaucracy in Aboriginal Affairs and making programs more directly accountable to the regions and bypassing money going through the States," he said. "There's a lot of red tape in Aboriginal Affairs … ultimately you can save 10-20 per cent by having direct funding to support these Aboriginal communities on a regional basis.
"It's not just about the funding, it's all about the infrastructure, it's all about the mechanisms around Aboriginal economic development, secure land tenure, economic independence, that all have to be adjusted."
