It’s time to change the picture

We have seen the picture before. In truth, we have seen it countless times before, this image of Indigenous Australians living in appalling Third World conditions. So many times, too, have we argued that for people such as Kate Pitjara, camped on a concrete slab 15 minutes from the centre of Alice Springs, the answer lies in decent housing. Yet in 2023 Ms Pitjara, her niece Miranda Pepperill, who receives regular dialysis in hospital, and other family members find themselves camped under a tarpaulin or sheltering in an old car.

If this case and this photograph were one-offs, if they were rare if devastating evidence of the poverty and limited prospects of one extended family, it would be easy to apportion blame to the agencies or services that have failed to provide basic housing to Australian citizens. But this case is not unique. Rather, it is emblematic of the disastrous outcome of decades of Aboriginal policy in remote parts of our wealthy country. The family is “invisible in plain sight”, according to Kerrynne Liddle, a Liberal senator who was born and raised in Alice Springs, where the average waiting time for public housing is six to eight years and almost 1400 people are waiting for a spot. It is, of course, not just a question of money. In 2017, the Northern Territory and federal governments made a $2.1bn investment in remote housing across 10 years. In the past financial year, 19 non-government organisations that deal with homelessness received $31m. Last week, Anthony Albanese announced $293m in extra funding to help close the gap between white and black Australians. Indeed, the focus on providing houses for Indigenous Australians in remote areas goes back much, much further, with countless variations in design and policy. Yet rough sleepers are common in Alice Springs, and MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour says there is a major issue with housing in the Territory.

There are questions that need to be asked about delivery of services in the Territory, but the broader issue in the year Australians will be asked to vote on the voice to parliament is whether that body would avoid failures such as the one pictured so dramatically in our pages. Will the voice make a difference on the ground?

Ms Scrymgour wants the voice and says it will; Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who also represents this remote area of our nation, opposes the voice and says it won’t address critical issues facing First Nations communities. What is clear is that, irrespective of whether the voice, if established, offers long-term answers, the people of Alice Springs need some short -term solutions to this crisis.