News from Around the Region

Mark Francis, Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Builder Trainer for the Community Development Program (CDP), has been spearheading some great building projects in the Anmatjere region.

Some of the projects Mark and the training crew are working on are renovation works on a Council house in Ti Tree that was damaged and the Wilora men’s shed.

Ryan Nelson, a CDP Support Officer at Nturiya and Billy Anderson, a job seeker at Nturiya, have been engaged enormously with the Builder Training projects. Billy Anderson is developing towards undertaking a Support Officer role at Nturiya as well.

The old car wrecks that have been in and around Anmatjere have been removed. A car baling project was set up at Ti-Tree and was very efficient; they were able to process a car every eight minutes!

There were triple trailer trucks carting cars from Laramba and Engawala to Ti-Tree for baling as well.

Now that they have completed the baling at Ti-Tree they will move to Yuendumu and bale all the old cars of Nyirripi, Yuelamu and Yuendumu at the Yuendumu waste management facility.

Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) gives notice in accordance to section 158 of the Local Government Act (2008) that the following rates and charges were declared to apply to the financial year ending 30 June 2022 at the Ordinary Council Meeting held on Friday 30 May 2021. Rates Declaration for 2021-22 is available on our website at  Rates Declaration 2021-22  or at our Council Offices in community as well as at 1 Bagot Street, Alice Springs.

As part of its reengagement strategy with clients, Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) was on the road to deliver its Careers Expo. Over 13 and 14 July, three teams crisscrossed the region with a single objective: to bring together job seekers and employers in the region.

The themes of this year’s event were:

• Continuing conversations with job seekers on the latest changes to mutual obligations by Government.
• Surveying job seekers to capture their input on CDP servicing.
• Providing a pop-up jobs expo space for employers in the region to exhibit jobs and services to clients.

On Wednesday 14 July the Community Safety Patrol (CSP) successfully recommenced with a full CSP crew in Nyirripi. Nyirripi has lacked a CSP team for about 18 months and Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) has been working with the community to encourage job applications, and have now employed a full team of four, two women and two men. They are Maxie Pollard, Antonia Wilson, Christine Curtis and Lance Turner. 

They plan to work six nights a week, splitting each night in to male and female shifts, with the women working the earlier part of the evening, meeting the men halfway through the night to let them know what’s been happening around community, and the men working the remainder.

The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) People and Culture Recruitment Team have been busy over April and May running recruitment training in communities. This was the first time the team had been to most communities so it was a great opportunity for them to get to know more of the staff.

The training was aligned to the Recruitment and Selection Standard Operating Procedure with an aim to increase the accuracy and compliance of recruitment paperwork received as well as compliance to the procedure, policy and Local Government Act requirements.

In June 2021, the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) collaborated with DriveSafe to deliver remote licencing to jobseekers and residents in Yuelamu, Yuendumu, Laramba, Willowra and Anmatjere. Participants across these communities accessed theory classes and road safety education lessons towards their Learner and Provisional licences, and practical driving assessments.

A total of 137 people attended the training. 73 people gained their Learner licences, 12 obtained Provisional licences and 5 participants obtained full licences.  

On 23 and 24 June, Aged Care staff from all of the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Aged Care Centres - Anmatjere, Atitjere, Engawala, Lajamanu, Laramba, Nyirripi, Wilora, Willowra and Yuelamu came together in Alice Springs for two days of training with Culturally Directed Care Solutions (CDCS). CDCS assists remote aged care services to be more efficient, meet compliance standards and provide quality care to their target group.

CDRC is dedicated to training its staff to create the best possible outcomes for its residents.

Photo: The CDRC Aged Care staff.

Yuelamu had a good turnout of around 50 people for NAIDOC celebrations on 24 June, early to coincide with the term two end of school farewell. It was held in the Yuelamu School grounds with Traditional Owners and Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Councillor David McCormack present for the combined celebration.

As part of the CDRC NAIDOC Art Competition, the school children were passionate about creating art. There were different styles of hut structures from different States of Australia from the senior class, and the Junior Primary created art on canvas. The art pieces are on show in the Council office area for residents to view and to add a colourful vibe in the Centrelink office.

Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Aged Care workers are now being vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. In Engawala, all staff and clients have been fully vaccinated, having received two shots. The staff were a little unsure at first but after Traditional Owner Kevin Bloomfield volunteered to go first the staff followed.

In other communities the staff have had only one shot, and in others still they are waiting for the next round of vaccines to arrive.

Photo: Wayne Porter, Aged Care Coordinator in Nyirripi, receiving his first Pfizer vaccine shot.