NDIS Regional Community Planning Report: Barkly Region
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September 2018 NDIS Regional Community Planning Report: Barkly Region © 2018 PricewaterhouseCoopers. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the Australian member firm, and may sometimes refer to the PwC network. Each member firm is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details. This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors. At PwC Australia our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re a network of firms in 158 countries with more than 236,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services. Find out more and tell us what matters to you by visiting us at www.pwc.com.au Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation Contents Page 1 Introduction Regional Community Planning Project 5 Contributing PIC Projects 6 2 The Barkly Region Barkly Region Communities 8 3 Stakeholder Engagement in the Barkly Region Community Engagement in the Barkly Region 12 Stakeholdersconsulted 13 4 Barkly Region Service Profile Services available for people with disability 15 Expressed need for services 16 Adjacent services in the Barkly Region 17 Barkly SWOT analysis 18 Stories from the Barkly 19 5 Concluding Comments Concluding comments for the Barkly Region 22 6 Acknowledgements 23 Please note: this document contains images of people. All necessary permissions have been obtained, and our best efforts have been made to ensure it does not contain images of people recently passed, however please be warned that this may be a possibility. PwC’s Indigenous Consulting 3 1 Introduction PwC’s Indigenous Consulting Regional Community Planning The Northern Territory Department of Health, Office of Disability (OoD) engaged PIC initially to undertake the Community Planning Project for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in the East Arnhem region. Due to the success of the engagement with East Arnhem stakeholders the project methodology was replicated in the remaining four project regions (Top End, Katherine, Barkly and Central Australia). Community engagement was the focus of the work that was undertaken by PIC during the project and the reports reflect the thoughts of those people ‘on the ground’ in each region, including people with disability and their circle of support, current and potential service providers and support workers. At all points of engagement PIC focused on what the NDIS could bring to communities and promoted collaboration, as opposed to a strictly market based competitive environment, putting people with disability at the centre of all conversations. The knowledge and wisdom of the people engaged, which included high representation from Aboriginal people either living or working in remote communities, has been captured in an effort to provide solutions for a way forward in the implementation of the NDIS in remote regions. Reporting for the completed project comprises six separate reports. The Community Planning for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in the Northern Territory is the main report for the project. This report contains the overall findings, including information gathered on workforce considerations, opportunities and potential market development that highlights opportunities for new jobs under the NDIS for Aboriginal people living in remote communities. While many of the overall findings across the remote communities that PIC visited were similar, the regional reports provide more detailed information on the makeup of individual regions and communities and should be read in conjunction with the main report. It is important to note that communities in each region are in themselves unique with their own challenges which demonstrates a need to take a place based approach as opposed to ‘a one size fits all’ that will compromise the successful roll out of the NDIS in remote regions of the Northern Territory. PwC’s Indigenous Consulting 5 Contributing PIC Projects PIC completed an additional three projects focusing on the NDIS, the findings of which have contributed to the Community Planning Project. NDIS Community of Practice Project The nine organisations who formed the Community of Practice had applied under the NT NDIS Innovation Grants Program to undertake projects related to place based community engagement and examine ways to leverage existing activities, and those activities undertaken by others in their respective communities, to provide new services for people with disability. The organisations were a mix of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (6) and mainstream organisations (3) that have strong links to the communities where their services are provided. The participant organisation in the Barkly region was Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation (Utopia Homelands). Photo Credit: PIC. Tennant Creek is the service center for the Barkly region. Meeting and Exceeding Cultural Safety in the Workplace Project Workshops were delivered in all regional centres for mainstream providers to build their cultural safety capacity as required under Domain 5 (Cultural Safety, Security and Competency) of the Northern Quality and Safeguarding Framework 2016. Five organisations generously shared their time and experience to assist in the development of content and format for the workshops. The Meeting and Exceeding Cultural Safety in the Workplace Project also delivered a suite of resources for organisations to use in the delivery of culturally appropriate services. Engaging Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations in the Disability Service Provision PIC was engaged to promote involvement of Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) with the NDIS. This work is embedded in the Community Planning Project with PIC building on existing relationships and utilising multiple approaches for community engagement in communication with ACCOs. None of the ACCOs that PIC consulted with provided disability services as a major part of their overall suite of services. Where it was provided, support services to people with disability was integrated into other services such as aged care. Those ACCOs providing mental health services all expressed concern regarding the transfer of Commonwealth funding under the Personal Helpers and Mentors Scheme (PHaMs) into the NDIS which may render many people ineligible for continuation of services. However, overall there was a keen interest expressed by ACCOs consulted in exploring possibilities for expansion of services under the NDIS. PwC’s Indigenous Consulting 6 2 The Barkly Region PwC’s Indigenous Consulting Barkly Region Communities The Barkly Regional Council covers around 323,514 km² and includes the towns of Tennant Creek and Elliot, 6 major communities, 8 minor communities, 70 family outstations, 49 pastoral stations, mining operations and commercial properties. The 2016 census records a population of 6,655 persons of whom 4,528 (or 68%) identified as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. The median age of the population was 28 years. Source: Google Maps, 2017, https://www.google.com.au/maps Barkly Regional Council http://barkly.nt.gov.au Bushtel http://www.bushtel.nt.gov.au/ ABS Census 2016 Tennant Creek is the regional service centre, housing many commercial and not-for-profit service providers which provide disability and other community services across the region. It was agreed with the Office of Disability that the PIC team would visit 3 communities in this region representing a variety of geographic, population, cultural and linguistic characteristics. PIC was unable to organise a visit to Elliot due to competing priorities for the community at the time of the Central Australian/Barkly visit. However, Elliot has been included in the community profiles to provide a comparison to Tennant Creek which is also located on the Stuart Highway. Arlparra is included on the infographic as it was visited as part of the NDIS Community of Practice project. The infographic below indicates the relative population size of each community, its distance from Tennant Creek and its linguistic complexity. Arlparra PwC’s Indigenous Consulting 8 Ali Curung Community The term Ali Curung is a Kaiditch (Kaytetye) word meaning country of the dogs, dog area, or dog dreaming. Ali Curug was established in the late 1950s by the relocation of Kaytetye people from Barrow Creek, Warlpiri people from Bullocky Creek areas and Alyawarra people from Murray Downs and Hatches Creek. Languages spoken include Warlpiri, Alyawarr, Kaytetye, and Warumungu. Remoteness & Access Ali Curung is classified as ‘very remote’ by the ABS. It is located 22 km east of the Stuart Highway, 1,164 km south of Darwin and 380 km north of Alice Springs. Population The population of Ali Curung is approximately 494 people (based on the 2016 Census) of whom 85.6% (423 people) identified as of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Median age: 24 years old . Number of people who provided unpaid assistance to persons with a disability: 52 people (15.4 %). Amenities Ali Curung is served by a range of local amenities including the Barkly Regional Council service centre, Warrabri Bakery, Minnirri Store, police station, school, safe house, homemakers, aged care service, Arlpwe Art Centre and Gallery, Baptist Church, health center (managed by the Department of Health) and a mechanical workshop. Elliott Community Elliott is the Barkly region’s second largest town. Named after Army Captain Reginald