Government processes and the effective delivery of services: the Ngaanyatjarra Council and its Regional Partnership Agreement
Government processes and the effective delivery of services: the Ngaanyatjarra Council and its Regional Partnership Agreement Report
DKCRC Working Paper
- Author(s): Sullivan, P
- Published: 2010
- Publisher: Desert Knowledge CRC
- Volume: 71
Abstract: This paper is the first of three on aspects of Aboriginal remote area public policy to be published by the Desert Knowledge CRC’s project ‘Desert Services that Work’. Taken together, the papers propose that for improved services in desert settlements centralised administration must be reduced, local community controlled not-for-profit organisations should be strengthened, and this should be done by strengthening regional and local governance. This first paper in the series demonstrates that bureaucratic control of programs for servicing desert settlements is inherently too slow in responding to demand, is inefficient in the application of resources, and is prone to errors introduced through long supply chains. It uses as a case study the Regional Partnership Agreement (RPA) entered into by three tiers of government and the not-for-profit organisation Ngaanyatjarra Council in 2005. In 2004 the Australian Government abolished the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and announced a policy of whole-of-government service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander settlements. Whole-of-government services were to be coordinated by regional Indigenous Coordination Centres (ICCs). RPAs were proposed as the means to encourage local adaptations in their governance and deliver services within a related framework. Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) were an essential component of RPAs. These required small groups to negotiate changes in behaviour in return for discretionary grant spending (see Cooper 2005, Humpage 2005, McCausland 2005, Sullivan 2007, Strakosch 2009). This paper first sets the scene by briefly describing the region, its people and institutions. It then summarises the RPA with the Western Australian and Australian Governments, analyses why it failed to deliver on its development promise, and concludes by drawing wider lessons for service delivery in remote areas.
- Urls: http://www.nintione.com.au/resource/DKCRC-Working-paper-71_Ngaaanyatjarra-Council-and-its-RPA.pdf, https://web.archive.org/web/20180405110535/http://www.desertknowledgecrc.com.au/resource/DKCRC-Working-paper-71_Ngaaanyatjarra-Council-and-its-RPA.pdf
- Publisher Location: Alice Springs
- Keywords: regional partnership agreement, service delivery, Ngaanyatjarra