A housing project is delivering jobs and skills to a remote NT community

An East Arnhem housing project is rewriting the rules around delivering remote jobs, while also changing the lives of those involved.

A residential development on an Arnhem Land community is delivering jobs, training and much-needed new housing for residents still displaced by a 2015 cyclone.

Bukmak Constructions is nearing the end of stage two of the multiphase Galiwin’ku housing development, with 24 new homes expected online in coming months.

The first of the brightly painted new homes on the East Arnhem Land community could be occupied within weeks as workers put the finishing touches to nearly completed two, three, four and five-bedroom houses and duplexes.

The new accommodation under the NT government’s Remote Housing Investment Package can’t come quickly enough for a handful of residents still living in transitional housing installed after Cyclone Lam whopped the community in 2015.

Bruce Wangurra and Antal Reti at AKJ’s worksite.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, Bukmak was awarded the $51.5m contract in 2021 to build 87 new homes and 60 room-to-breathe renovations to boost ageing housing stock on Elcho Island.

Phase one involved construction of 14 new dwellings within the community and with the additional 24 homes in the phase two subdivision and another 23 set for phase three, the project is gaining momentum after the pandemic delayed progress through much of 2021.

The long-term nature of the contract gives Galiwin’ku residents the opportunity to embed skills and training that shorter construction projects don’t allow.

As well as Bukmak, family-owned company AKJ Services has secured the civil contract preparing the project’s third stage works with another two-dozen jobs already opened up and more expected as the works ramp up.

AKJ Services’ Jessie Risk and Antal Reti with Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler.

Bukmak and AKJ currently employ up to 20 members from the local workforce in a variety of competencies including gardening, tiling, security and labouring with the pipeline of jobs expected to continue at least for the next few years as the 87 extra homes are rolled out.

Galiwin’ku resident Bruce Wangurra estimated the community has a potential workforce of up to 1000 people with just 60 jobs currently available.

Employed with a local health organisation, he praised AKJ’s commitment to employing island workers.

Of AKJ’s 25 workers on Elcho, 15 are Aboriginal and eight of those were employed directly from the island.

Workers on the Community Development Program will undertake a month’s training before being given a job.

AKJ's security team.

Company director Antal Reti said the local employees had been particularly valuable delivering security services.

To maximise the training opportunities the project is generating, Bukmak’s commercial manager Steve Roberts said he wanted the skills gained by Galiwin’ku residents to have national accreditation despite distance, linguistic and numeracy challenges.

He wants video and digital images of the work being done by Aboriginal employees to provide proof-of-capacity to training certifiers down south, so skills learnt by Aboriginal employees on the job are actually accredited to the workers.

Kalvin Wutjara is one of Bukmak’s works team.

“The Territory government has issued a long project delivery so it allows us to engage local Yolngu people and look to get some ongoing and retained skills transfer happening while we deliver the project,” Mr Roberts said.

“At the end of the project in 2026 hopefully we’ve got people that can hang a door, that can change a fly screen, fix a leaking tap, repair tiling, do painting so all those retained skills are beneficial to the community because that gives those people the opportunity to work on housing maintenance and repairs in the future.”

ALPA’s kitchen team Shanti Dhamarrandji, Bronwyn Dhumdhumy, Cheryllee Hodgson, Roberta Bathadaki, Kylie Yunnupingu, Rita Gurruwini, Tatiyana Garrayulyul and Sandra Bukulatjpi.

He said he hoped it would lead to the creation of micro-economies on the island, such as the eight women now working in the kitchen preparing lunch and evening meals for Bukmak work crews.

Cheryllee Hodgson, who has stewarded the scheme from a Community Development Program pilot to a business, said the women involved had seriously invested in the project.

“It’s like a team effort for the women, something they can really call they’re own,” she said.

Visiting the project on Monday, Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler said the extended works package over five years presented opportunities to Bukmak and AKJ.

“It’s what we need in these communities,” Ms Lawler said.

“We know the story around crowding in Aboriginal housing and in a place like Galiwin’ku you’ve got these two really good Territory businesses that are making a difference.”