Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson calls for audit of ‘failed’ Red Centre social services

As Alice Springs mayor calls for a social services audit, the Territory government has defended its annual spend on the non-government sector as money well spent.

Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson says service providers who aren’t delivering on their promises have ‘failed’. Picture Mark Brake

Matt Paterson is calling for an “audit of all of the social service providers in Alice Springs” while councillor Gavin Morris calls out the “bucketloads of money” disappearing into Aboriginal and non-Indigenous organisations alike.

The town council mayor called for the audit as the Red Centre continues to grapple with surging youth crime, saying “if they were all working so well we wouldn’t be in this situation”.

Mr Paterson said any service providers who can’t deliver outcomes “shouldn’t be funded anymore to do that service because you’ve failed”.

“I don’t think that’s actually rocket science, if you’re paid to deliver a service for youth and there’s 100 youth on the street, well someone is not delivering that service,” he said.

“I come from a construction background, so if you are paying for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house and you get a three-bedroom, one-bath, well you don't get paid,” he said.

“It should be treated exactly the same, if you’re paid to deliver a service and you’re not doing it, you shouldn’t be paid.”

Fellow town councillor and Yipirinya School principal Gavin Morris also called for more scrutiny of the “bucketloads of money” going to non-Indigenous organisations.

“The evaluation of what actually hits the ground doesn’t exist and then we’ve got a disempowered, disadvantaged Aboriginal community who don’t feel confident enough to keep those organisations accountable,” he said.

But Mr Morris said the problem was not confined to outsider organisations with white savour complexes.

Yipirinya School principal and Alice Springs town councillor Gavin Morris. Picture: Jason Walls

“I think there’s been a reluctance from non-Indigenous Australia to step in to Aboriginal organisations and to have awkward, uncomfortable conversations which may actually improve the outcomes for the most disadvantaged population in Australia,” he said.

“In the current model so many of these programs go unevaluated, no empirical research gets wrapped around them at all and we just continue to push the can down the road because no one’s willing to have a tough conversation.

“Things go on in Aboriginal organisations, in terms of spending, in terms of rolling out programs and the like which just don't happen in other places, you wouldn’t accept that in other places — and the same thing can be applied to non-Indigenous service providers.”

Mr Morris said Alice Springs’ youth crime issues would not go away until the service providers responsible for looking after the town’s most disadvantaged residents were held to account.

“It’s just not conducive to anything more than what we’re seeing on the streets at the moment, which is kids walking around Todd Mall late at night because they don’t feel safe to go home, because they’re just not safe,” he said.

“Parents who are just overwhelmed by the trauma and the indefinite poverty and cycle of poverty that they’ve been left in.

“At the end of the day, if there’s no outcomes, if there’s no change, if there’s no benefit to the community then an organisation needs to be held accountable and that goes for Yipirinya and everybody.”

Territory Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit (centre) says ‘all funding is acquitted for purposes of transparency and governance’. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

A spokeswoman said Territory government spent about $115.2m on the non-government sector for the delivery of social services throughout the NT.

Territory Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit said about 25,000 young people were “engaged in positive activities and events” in Central Australia during the summer, including sport and the arts.

They said the government contracted organisations to deliver a wide range of services in the Central Australia region including “family, domestic and sexual violence programs, homelessness services, family support services, youth services and programs”.

“We have robust procurement and contract management processes in place to ensure services are delivered according to agreed service standards and are delivered to meet the needs of families, children and young people experiencing vulnerability.

“All funding is acquitted for purposes of transparency and governance with a detailed internal report.”

Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally published as Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson calls for audit of ‘failed’ Red Centre social services