Champion of the community Mark Coffey honoured with Public Service Medal
WORKING as a bureaucrat doesn’t always get much public recognition but Mark Coffey has had a long and lasting impact on his appreciative community
Northern Territory
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WORKING as a bureaucrat doesn’t always get much public recognition but Mark Coffey has had a long and lasting impact on Alice Springs.
Mr Coffey has helped fulfil the needs of Central Australians through his work with the Commonwealth Government and received the Public Service Medal as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of his hard work.
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“It doesn’t matter where you live. You should expect the same level of service from the government in remote parts of Australia,” he said. “It’s about being responsive to the needs of the community because every community is different.
“The policies set by Canberra might not work in the regions and I think the role of public service people is to work to make sure that the policy can work for everyone.”
Among his proudest achievements is helping improve the standard of living for residents in Alice Springs town camps in 2010.
Adding almost 90 new houses to town camps and improving amenities significantly reduced overcrowding.
“We did a lot of infrastructure works in there to improve the power, water, sewerage and roads,” he said. “We started off with a small budget of about $50 million and we ended up investing about $150 million into the town camps as we were able to go back to Canberra to get more funding from the Commonwealth. A lot of it was about co-ordination and bringing stakeholders together and getting agreement from them on what we do, how we do it, when we do it and just allowing people to have a say.”
Mr Coffey also worked with NT police for 22 years, where he collaborated with WA police and the NPY Women’s Council to ease the court process for domestic violence victims in the tri-state region.
“I look back fondly on things like the cross-border violence program, which was about justice for domestic violence victims and allowing that to occur quicker and easier for the victims,” he said.
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Mr Coffey has retired from his career with the Commonwealth Government but is continuing his work in serving the community by assisting people quarantining during the pandemic in Alice Springs.
“It’s difficult to be stuck in a hotel room without family and support. We’ve set up support mechanisms through welfare and healthcare to make sure they are well looked after,” he said.
Originally published as Champion of the community Mark Coffey honoured with Public Service Medal