Alice Springs town camp residents sick of begging for 'bandaids'

The ABC was invited into Charles Creek/Anthelk-Ewlpaye town camp to talk to renters about what their lives are like. (ABC News: Ryan Liddle) The living conditions and management of town camps in the Northern Territory are coming under renewed scrutiny as national attention turns to Alice Springs. Town campers have long been used as political footballs, and now in the wake of the alleged murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby, there are concerns these communities will unfairly bear the blame. Local organisations are pushing the NT government to return town camps to community control. Link copiedShareShare articleHousing in the Northern Territory has been thrust into the national spotlight, with town camps a flashpoint in a growing debate. The issues facing renters who live in town camps are decades old and well known, but the renewed attention on the substandard living conditions has reignited debate over how the communities are funded and managed, and why poor living conditions persist. The town camps in Mparntwe/Alice Springs were established because of racist policy that meant Aboriginal people displaced from their own lands were not allowed inside town limits. Charles Creek/Anthelk-Ewlpaye town camp sits just outside the centre of Alice Springs. (ABC News: Xavier Martin) Over time, each of the town camps formed its own housing association and an overarching body, the Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation, to support town campers in their fight for basic services. Over decades, generations of Aboriginal families have lived in the town camps, becoming intertwined with the town itself. There are 16 camps dotted throughout the plains and on the fringes, but the residents are often living very differently to those who live in Alice Springs. Town campers have long been used as political footballs on issues like alcohol bans and local crime, and now in the wake of the alleged murder of Kumanjayi Little Baby there are concerns these communities will unfairly bear the blame. Catherine Liddle, chief executive of Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), the national First Nations children's advocacy body, says town campers should not be maligned for this tragedy. "The person accused of that murder did not live on a town camp. That is not what happened here. That person could have turned up to any house in Alice Springs. That is where they turned up," Ms Liddle says. The Charles Creek/Anthelk-Ewlpaye camp sits just outside the centre of Alice Springs, where Harley Pompey-Myers has lived most of his life. "I've lived here about 20 years plus … It's got worse, to be honest. It's changed drastically," Harley says. "We used to have a lot of safety here put in place, but now there's no safety measures put in place anymore." Harley Pompey-Myers remembers the town camp being safer for children when he was growing up. (ABC News: Ryan Liddle) Harley says residents have long been asking for things like proper fencing and speed bumps to keep young children safe from the busy roads around the camp, but nothing has been done. He remembers a different time in the camp, when the community had more of a say over how things were managed. "I don't really trust the area no more. When we was younger, we used to run around everywhere because it was a bit more better, you know? Like the elders looked out for us more," he says. Harley's home has been plagued with problems that he says he's constantly had to fight to get fixed, including broken door and window locks, no heating, broken ventilation systems, and water leaks. "We had like [broken] door locks, electrical faults, and the windows not on the hinges properly, just from break-ins and stuff like that," he says. Harley installed slide-bolt locks on his door himself, after months of asking Tangentyere Council for help. (ABC News: Ryan Liddle) After months of battling to get basic repairs completed, and doing some of the jobs himself, his house is mostly secure — but he says it wasn't until he threatened to take legal action against Tangentyere Council that things started to happen. "I had to go into the actual office, and I kind of made threats for them to get it done, which I wasn't proud of, but I'm proud because my sons need their safety. Safety for us, for all the kids," he says. Harley wants his children to grow up in safety in the town camp. (ABC News: Ryan Liddle) "I'm glad to say that all the repairs are done now, you know, but not everyone is capable of doing that, having that know-how and knowledge to do it. "I want that for every house, really. I want all their houses to be safe." Tangentyere Council did not respond to questions from the ABC at the time of publication. Harley took up his fight with Tangentyere Council, but the issue of who is actually responsible for repairs in the town camps is complicated. Town camps sit in the centre of a web of bureaucracy, with all levels of government playing a role in their man

Alice Springs town camp residents sick of begging for 'bandaids'

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