At the end of October 2021, the Commercial Services team from Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) converged in Alice Springs for in-house training.
In one of the sessions of the training the team reviewed the upcoming changes to employment services in regional and remote Australia; particularly, Government’s decision to change the Community Development Program (CDP) to a new remote jobs program in 2023. There was also a representative from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) Central Australia office Engagement Team who attended a session to talk about the provider performance review process.
The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) 2020-21 annual report has been sent to the Minister for Local Government, Chansey Paech MLA, and is now up on the CDRC website. The annual report shows the progress CDRC has made against the Strategic Plan throughout the financial year and the CDRC annual financial statements. It also includes achievements and stories of the CDRC communities.
You can read the annual report here: 2020-2021 Annual Report
Community cleaning was identified as a priority in the Community Development Program (CDP) community survey ran in July. CDP has created a program to mobilise communities to clean up their locations. The first cleaning exercise was held at Nturiya (Station) on 6 October and the program continued on 12, 13 and 14 October in Pmara Jutunta (6 Mile), Nturiya and Wilora respectively.
Photo: Mark Francis, Builder Trainer, Billy Anderson, Support Officer, Ryan Nelson, Support Officer, Clifford Martin, job seeker and Francis Madonko, Program Manager CDP Activities, finishing the clean-up.
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) Support Officer Ryan Nelson and Billy Anderson, a job seeker at Nturiya, have removed grass growing through the Nturiya basketball court surface, removed rubbish and used a brush cutter to cut grass around the edge of the court.
Billy Anderson also assisted Mark Francis, CDRC Builder Trainer, to reattach a basketball hoop, allowing the kids of Nturiya to play basketball safely and properly again.
Photo above: Removing the grass from the surface of the basketball court.
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) surveyed clients to get input from job seekers and the community on what they thought of the quality of services provided by the CDP program and to gain insight on areas respondents wanted to see improvement in. 74 respondents were surveyed across the communities of Ti Tree, Willowra, Laramba, Yuelamu and Yuendumu at the CDP Careers Expo at the beginning of the financial year.
Community clean-ups was rated the number one activity by 24.8% of respondents, gardening was rated second (21.3%), arts and crafts third (19.65%), furniture making fourth (17.9%) and health and nutrition fifth (16.4%). The top two suggested areas of improvement were: increased training (55% of respondents) and activities (19%).
Work has begun on fitting out the former Wilora works depot as a men’s shed. This was a result of a community survey and a request from the Wilora community. Preliminary plans were drawn up with contributions from community members and Mark Wilson, Team Leader Activities Community Development Program (CDP. The preliminary plans have now been professionally produced by a draftsperson ready for quotations from Power and Water and electricians.
As part of the Builder Trainer activities, the shed has been cleaned out and work begun on preparing for a concrete slab in an annexed section of the shed by Mark Francis, CDP Builder Trainer, Greg Corbett, CDP Wilora Support Officer, and volunteer job seekers in Wilora.
Lanceton Campbell just completed ten years of working for Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) at Anmatjere Aged Care in Ti Tree.
Lanceton started with Aged Care on 2 August 2011 as a Support Worker and with dedicated hard work has worked his way up to Supervisor.
Congratulations and well done, Lanceton!
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) has been recognised as a Winner for Employer of Choice in The Australian Business Awards 2021. The Australian Business Awards for Employer of Choice recognises organisations that develop leading workplaces that maximise the full potential of their workforce through established policies and practices that demonstrate effective employee recruitment, engagement and retention.
CDRC is a Local Government entity that operates in the Northern Territory, to the north of Alice Springs, with boundaries that go from the Queensland Border to the WA border covering a land area of 282,064km2. The municipal area is home to approximately 4,200 people and spread over eleven Indigenous communities and one town. Council’s workforce of around 240 staff, over 69% of whom are Indigenous, is spread over those twelve locations and also in the Alice Springs based headquarters. The area is home to the most disadvantaged people in the Northern Territory, and CDRC’s core mission is to build sustainable communities through service delivery, advocacy, and community engagement.
The Work Health and Safety (WHS) October Safe Work Month film competition was hotly contested this year, with the dominant themes around vehicles and personal protective equipment (PPE).
At the September Council meeting the Councillors watched all the movies and deliberated over the outcome and there was a dead heat between two movies. Luckily, the Hon. Chansey Paech was in attendance for the swearing in of the new Councillors and was asked to choose the winner.
The winner as chosen by the Council and the Minister were the Community Development Program (CDP) team for their film, ‘Think Safe and Drive Safe’. Congratulations to the CDP team.
The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Safety Patrol (CSP) team held a barbecue on Saturday night to introduce the new CSP vehicle for Engawala.
“The BBQ was a huge success. We had over 45 people come along, and the CSP Team Members did a lot of the heavy lifting with cooking, setting up the tables, and serving people,” said CSP Team Leader in Engawala, Stephen Royes. “And they love the new car!” he added.
The new vehicle is a Toyota Fortuna, an SUV version of the Hilux that it is replacing, with capacity to carry seven people. A new one will go to each of the CDRC CSP communities.
Engawala got the first vehicle of the new set, because the team took such good care of their last vehicle.
