Federal budget 2023: Action ‘needed to keep the kids on track’

Willie Orr and his family from Alice Springs hope the budget will increase investment in service delivery and help to build sustainable economies in remote communities.

Alice Springs locals Rebecca and Willie Orr with four of their seven children – Brodie, 10, Olivia, eight months, Abigail, 5, and Kimberley, 8. Picture: Liam Mendes

Willie Orr and his family have lived in Alice Springs all their lives — and have watched the town they love appear to go backwards for decades.

Their message to address the town’s law-and-order crisis is clear: invest in the community “out bush” to stop people drifting into town.

They hope the budget will increase investment in service delivery and help to build sustainable economies in remote communities so there is less reliance on welfare.

“There’s nothing for them to do out in community, that’s why they’re running to town and running amok,” Mr Orr told The Australian ahead of the budget.

The 53-year-old spends a lot of time in rural bush communities as a painter, refurbishing government housing for Indigenous families. His wife Rebecca, 33, who is also Aboriginal, grew up in the regional communities of Yuendumu and Haasts Bluff in the mid to late-90s.

Mr Orr hopes the budget will also bring investment in teaching and training in remote communities so they can become more self-reliant. “Instead of getting contractors from in town to go out bush and do their work for them, we need to get the community mob getting involved,” he said.

He says if he had the opportunity to teach people his trade in remote communities, it would have a far greater impact than him just doing the work.

“Back when we were kids, we didn’t worry about running into town and doing destruction, we had things to do like go hunting … the kids these days they’ve got nothing to do,” Mr Orr said.

His wish came partially true, with the budget targeting funds to improve the health, safety and employment outcomes for Indigenous people living in Central Australia.

In addition to $1.9bn for First Nations’ health, housing education and employment, a further $250m Central Australia package was promised, to improve the quality of life of young people in communities through infrastructure projects, improved education outcomes and concentrated “health hubs”.

About $9.2m of that fund will also be dedicated to addressing community safety and crime prevention projects, and $7.5m will be dedicated to building community-controlled organisations.

The Orr family like to go out with their kids riding dirt bikes at the weekend. Mr Orr was a successful racer and three of the children compete.

They’d like to see more programs for children in Alice Springs to take them out bush “so they can learn what the elders did, like getting bushtucker”.

Ms Orr said while there were some programs for children, those kids who didn’t want to stay in their homes should have somewhere safe to go, instead of roaming around.

“Have more outreach locations near the town camps where they can go and play 24 hours a day so they’re not wandering into town,” she said.

They’re also calling for a reform of Centrelink payments, to penalise parents if their children are found to have damaged property.

“If you start tapping into the parents’ Centrelink when these kids do all this, I bet you they’ll start pulling them up then,” Mr Orr said. “If some little kid rocked up in my house and smashed my window, these parents should be liable to pay for that.”

The couple, who share four children aged eight months, five, eight and ten, said better access to childcare was also needed.

Ms Orr was hoping to return to work as a personal assistant after enrolling their fourth child, Olivia, into daycare before she was born. But she was told there were 130 children on the waiting list.

“There needs to be more centres,” she said.

But what they yearn for most is a safe Alice Springs.

“We want to walk the streets or go to dinner without having trouble,” said Ms Orr.