The state government allocates $1.6m more per Indigenous council but greater investment needed

The state government has gifted each Far North Indigenous council a wad of money to use at their discretion, but it’s not nearly enough to fix dire socio-economic outcomes.

The state government has tossed the Far North’s Indigenous councils a handy chunk of money but the amount received is nowhere near enough to fix dire social outcomes.

A total funding boost of $25.8m will be spread among Queensland’s 16 Indigenous councils, 13 of which are located in FNQ, as part of the state government’s budget which is due to be tabled in parliament next week.

The money will count towards the councils’ core funding; in effect, they will be able to spend it at their discretion.

The 58.6 per cent boost in spending equates to an extra $1.6m per council, not an insignificant amount according to Wayne Butcher, the mayor of Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire Council which subsists on an annual budget of $28m.

Alison Smith, LGAQ CEO, and Leeanne Enoch, DATSIP minister, came to Cairns on Thursday and announced a funding boost for Indigenous communities. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Mr Butcher wants to use the extra dollars to generate local economic development opportunities.

“We’ve always looked at how we can self-generate revenue, and I think these types of investment will support that,” Mr Butcher said.

“Each shire will be different. Some will use this money for service delivery, others will use it for local business and revenue raising opportunities.

“We’re not a rate-base shire, so we’ve been relying on government funds for quite some time. In our situation, we welcome any additional funding.”

But Mr Butcher conceded his community was currently suffering a severe housing shortage that was causing high levels of overcrowding and he was not certain that housing-related funding support will come from higher levels of government anytime soon.

Lockhart River mayor Wayne Butcher welcomed the extra funding and said it could be used to stimulate local economic development projects. Picture: Stewart McLean

The issue of overcrowding, which carries with it severe health and economic consequences, is also currently battering Yarrabah.

The community, which sits 10km from Cairns across Trinity Inlet, has 329 families listed on the council’s housing register, some of whom have waited for more than 15 years.

According to executives, the council’s housing fund does not even have a tenth of the cash required to construct the 400 homes it estimates are needed.

It is also struggling to access land to commence housing construction.

Mayor Ross Andrews has also flagged upgrades to existing trunk infrastructure as a vital and urgent need; the town has recently had issues with water contaminated by both lead and copper at government facilities.

Yarrabah mayor Ross Andrews said his town is suffering from a breakdown in its trunk infrastructure and also needs a funding boost for housing provision. Picture: Nuno Avendano

“We really need more support around housing and infrastructure. Many of our communities have ageing trunk infrastructure,” Mr Andrews said.

“Having the foundations of power, water, wastewater, telecommunications and roads are just as important as constructing houses … because it’s the foundation of building a house.”

New Indigenous partnerships minister Leeanne Enoch said Indigenous councils had fought hard for the additional allocation.

“We know that their ability to secure a revenue source is challenged given they don’t have the usual avenues, such as rates,” Ms Enoch said.

Alison Smith, CEO of the Local Government Association of Queensland, said costs of service delivery for Indigenous councils was high and the extra funding would assist.

“We will continue our call for this funding to not just be a one-year top up, but to be locked in, made permanent and indexed annually,” Ms Smith said.

Originally published as The state government allocates $1.6m more per Indigenous council but greater investment needed