Julalikari corporation under special administration after community criticism
Posted
One of Australia's largest Indigenous corporations has been put under special administration after ongoing community concern that it has failed to deliver services in the Northern Territory's Barkly region.
The Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation has been funded by the federal and NT governments to provide housing and other services, including youth programs, night patrol and child care, in Tennant Creek and nearby communities.
Registrar of Indigenous Corporations Anthony Beven said his decision to put Julalikari into special administration for six months followed a breakdown in the corporation's relationships with the community, including its members and commercial partners.
"Julalikari has been through a difficult period," Mr Beven said in a statement.
"The range of programs and services it looks after is vast, and it's facing significant pressures and criticism about its ability to perform effectively."
The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) started examining Julalikari in October last year, after allegations it had left millions of dollars' worth of government funding unspent in its bank account.
Several residents from Tennant Creek told the ABC they were relieved to hear about ORIC's decision, including local business owner Richard Dodd.
"I don't think Julalikari did a good job with any of the services they were given to look over and I think that [view] would be pretty much shared by a majority of people in town," he said.
"Julalikari has been well funded for many years.
"Funds that they've had have been sitting there doing nothing, where there's a crying need for money to be spent in the town."
Concerns asbestos fears not acted upon
Tennant Creek resident Linda Turner, known locally as 'LT', said her main grievance with Julalikari was its delayed response to fears about asbestos exposure from abandoned housing it purchased.
"It's taken a long time," she said.
"We were worried and we just wanted someone to come and talk to us, to my family and other families in that living area."
Last week, Julalikari said in a public notice that it had fenced off and signed the affected areas and the corporation was hiring an asbestos removal company, security to patrol the areas and an interpreter to speak to families about the dangers of asbestos.
Ms Turner said Julalikari had also failed to deliver housing services in the region.
"There's a 10-year waiting list to get into public housing and even a four-year waiting list to get on priority housing," she said.
"We have people living in the bush, in parks, it's really sad."
Mr Dodd said his business, a petrol station in Tennant Creek, had been in Julalikari's firing line.
"They've taken business off their own business, which is a ludicrous situation," he said.
"We're 50 per cent owned by Julalikari and they decided, without any reason that was given to us, to pull overnight their whole trade off us."
Julalikari was set up in 1989 to improve the lives of Aboriginal people in the Barkly region and it now employs more than 90 people, according to ORIC.
Mr Beven said the corporation was solvent and in a strong financial position but the loss of community support had created problems for its governance and operations.
"There is frustration on all sides," he said.
"The special administrators will provide an opportunity for all parties to restart conversations in good faith, restructure the corporation's governance, and refocus its energy on delivering high-quality services."
In a statement to the ABC, Julalikari said it was disappointed with the registrar's decision, especially given its financial position.
"ORIC appears to have given weight to criticism - most of it anonymous - levelled at JCAC by a small but vocal number of critics, some of whom are non-Aboriginal people who are significantly indebted to JCAC," the statement read.
The organisation said it was planning to meet to discuss the decision and said a request for a review was one of the options being considered.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, corporate-governance, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, tennant-creek-0860
