Access to good quality water is an issue at Dajarra, Western Queensland. Ronnie Condren and Henry Dempsey use rainwater tanks for their household supply, although low rainfall means that water sometimes needs to be brought by truck. Research on desert services is working out ways to address shortcomings in basic and essential services such as water.

Desert Services that Work

Services cover every aspect of life: housing, water, phones, power, roads, rubbish, health, education ... most of the necessities of modern living. On desert settlements these services come from governments, Aboriginal organisations and private companies, but the wide range of different services and providers often means that getting the best from them is difficult and can be extremely complex.

Community members, leaders, local employees and service providers all agree that improvements can be made in the quality and cost of services. The DKCRC’s Desert Services That Work project has been underway since 2006. Its research has focused on finding out how to improve services in desert Australia, beginning with reports on telecommunications¹², housing design and thermal performance³, how people use different types of services⁴, the ways that they are delivered and maintained^5,6, local needs⁷, and the consequences of changing from evaporative to refrigerative air conditioners⁸.

Outcomes

• Residents of remote desert settlements have better access to services using demand-responsive technical, social and financial systems.
• Service providers have access to knowledge to assist them in achieving the intended outcomes of their policy and practice and to meet the needs and expectations of consumers.
• Governance arrangements for services improved to achieve greater effectiveness on both the demand and supply sides and which create livelihood opportunities in remote desert areas.
• Residents, agencies, governments and businesses use high-quality knowledge on service models for demand-responsive desert services.
• Services making a stronger contribution to the economic development of desert Australia.

Project components

The project is working with community members and service providers to develop a picture of the services on the study settlements. We are looking at who makes the decisions about those services and how those services are used. To do this we are carrying out interviews, running workshops and interviewing the managers of service providers in regional centres and capital cities.

We will also explore:

• government adopting a more sophisticated engagement with supply chain
• responses to the local government reform and the Australian Government’s ‘intervention’ as this unfolds across the research sites
• research sites where groups have own-source income through mining royalties or private commercial enterprises.

In the context of this research we will not ask about family, private or secret business, and we are separate from government native title, Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) and land purchase business.

DKCRC researchers worked with Myuma Pty Ltd, an Aboriginal-owned and operated earth-moving business based in Camooweal, Queensland, to develop innovative approaches to service delivery. Myuma provides a range of services to the Indjilandji people of the Barkly Tableland, including cultural heritage management and accredited training programs for local Aboriginal people in civil construction work, mining and related support services.

Participants

Steve Fisher is a project leader in the DKCRC. He manages a national team of researchers working on a wide range of projects aimed at building desert services that work for people to live in now and in the future.

The project’s participants are:

• Ali Curung, NT
• Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• BHP Billiton
• Centre for Appropriate Technology
• Charles Darwin University
• CSIRO
• Dajarra, Qld
• Doomadgee, Qld
• Government of Western Australia
• Hermannsburg, NT
• James Cook University
• Jigalong, WA
• Mimili, SA
• Murdoch University
• Myuma Pty Ltd
• New South Wales Government
• Newman, WA
• Ngaanyatjarra Council Aboriginal Corporation, WA
• Northern Territory Government
• Parnngurr, WA
• PY Ku Planning Forum/TKP Regional Forum, WA
• South Australian Government
• University of Queensland
• University of South Australia
• Urandangi, Qld
• Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation, WA
• Wunara, NT

_Notes

<sub>1 Abolhasan, M. 2007. Sparse ad hoc networks for the desert. DKCRC Research Report 23, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
2. Abolhasan, M & Wright, A. 2008. Survey of the potential of emerging wireless technologies to improve telecommunication services in remote Australian settlements. The Rangeland Journal 30 (1), 157–65.
3. Duell, M. 2007. Housing design and thermal performance. DKCRC Research Report 14, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
4. Seemann, K et al. 2008. Housing for livelihoods: Scoping the lifecycle of housing and infrastructure through a whole-of-system approach in remote Aboriginal communities, DKCRC Research Report 29, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
5. Anda, M & Dallas, S. 2008. Technical services in desert settlements: The role of Aboriginal resource agencies: A scoping study. DKCRC Research Report 13, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
6. Grey-Gardner, R. 2008. Implementing risk management for water supplies: a catalyst and incentive for change. The Rangeland Journal 30 (1), 149–56.
7. Moran, M et al. 2007. The transformation of assets for sustainable livelihoods in a remote Aboriginal settlement. DKCRC Research Report 28, Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.
8. Duell, M et al. 2008. An assessment of the impact of refrigerative airconditioning on power use, cooling, costs and daily life at Areyonga, Northern Territory. DKCRC Research Report 33,Desert Knowledge CRC, Alice Springs.</sub>