Family living on a concrete slab outside Alice Springs finally moved into temporary housing

The Central Australian family who have been living on a cement slab outside the township of Alice Springs for years are now all in temporary accommodation.

Kate Pitjara, one of about a dozen people living rough on the concrete slab a couple kilometres outside of Alice Springs Credit: Kerrynne Liddle

The family who have been living on a cement slab outside Alice Springs for years are now all in temporary accommodation, with Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour declaring there had been a failure at all levels of government to get them out of their “appalling” situation until now.

It follows reporting by The Australian documenting the living conditions of Kate Pitjara and her family, who had been living under a tarpaulin on the cement slab just minutes from the Alice Spring’s town centre for around two years.

The family of more than a dozen previously lived in Utopia – about 230km from Alice Springs – but all moved to town when Ms Pitjara’s niece, Miranda Pepperil, fell ill and required dialysis.

Ms Scrymgour confirmed she had begun intervening in the case following reporting by The Australian and raised the family’s situation with federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, and the Northern Territory Housing Minister, Selena Uibo.

“I think it‘s disgraceful that all this time the family has flown under the radar … it’s unacceptable for people with (Ms Pepperil’s) level of chronic illness to be sleeping rough like that,” she told The Australian.

“We’ve got them out of that area, which was appalling … with the heat and no water or toilet facilities, it was just not the right place for someone who goes and has dialysis, let alone little kids to be living in.

“We worked very closely with Selena Uibo’s office. And she, as the Northern Territory Housing Minister, has worked very closely and seriously to get the issues resolved for this family.”

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and Marion Scrymgour, MP for Lingiari, arrive in Alice Springs as the town battles severe social issues. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

The family are now all in temporary accommodation in Alice Springs or at an outstation about 80km away, where they are living with their pets.

When asked who bore the responsibility for the failure to address the challenges facing the family for so many years, Ms Scrymgour said every level of government was to blame.

“It’s all of us. It’s a failure of policy at all levels of government … including the Alice Springs town council,” she said.

She said she did not believe an outcome would have been reached without the federal government getting involved.

“I don’t think there would have been a good outcome for the family if we hadn’t have intervened,” she said.

It follows Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle slamming the inaction of all governments to address the family’s situation, with Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley making a visit to Alice Springs last week to see the family’s situation for herself and demand outcomes from the Commonwealth.

But Ms Scrymgour said achieving outcomes for the family should go “beyond politics”, and confirmed she had raised this with Ms Ley while she was in town.

Ms Scrymgour said the Commonwealth would now “work with, and put some urgency on, the NT government” to find the family long term housing.

“‘We’re looking at how do we get them into some long term housing, particularly with the little ones going to school every day. We need to really support and make sure that those little ones staying engaged with the school system,” she said.

The current wait time for public housing in Alice Springs is between six and eight years, while tenants living in public housing nearby are seeking to sue the NT government for “distress” caused due to the lack of repairs and maintenance on the accommodation.

Tenants living in Santa Teresa, southeast of Alice Springs, have brought the case for compensation over the lack of repairs to the High Court.

Ms Scrymgour said if she was in such a situation and the NT government was not “fulfilling its obligations” for the housing provided, she would be “pretty angry”.

While pointing to federal government investment in infrastructure to ease the territory’s housing crisis, particularly in remote areas, Ms Scrymgour said it was clear more needed to be done in centres like Alice Springs.

“The reality is, a lot of people don't want to stay out in their remote communities. They do want to move because of their kids’ education and a number of reasons,” she said.

“We’re seeing that urban drift, we need to put more housing stock on the ground in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine and I know Darwin is also a major issue.”

Ms Scrymgour earlier this year said the Indigenous voice to parliament “couldn‘t be further from people’s view” in the midst of the crisis that had gripped Alice Springs following the easing of alcohol restrictions last year.

With restrictions now back in place, Ms Scrymgour said there had been a “huge improvement” in the region and that there were “a lot of conversations about the voice” across the Territory.

“I’m hoping that we can make some inroads and people can feel safe and this community can work through a number of the issues that are coming out of the federal government and one of them is the conversation about voice, treaty, truth,” she said.

Senator Liddle said she “couldn’t be more thrilled” with the outcome for the family, who had been living in an environment average Australians “could not have imagined”.