Non Government Organizations, like Bungala and AP Services, are not applying for permission to do things on the Lands. Traditional owners are not being consulted. The NGOs do not understand the difference between traditional owners and people who live in communities. They are really businesses without customers. By forcing Anangu to accept services from them, their existence is able to be justified to funding bodies.
The NGOs do not have to compete for our business and so far there is no other choice of supplier on the Lands. NGOs try and strengthen their positions by trying to take over key facilities on the Lands so that competing suppliers cannot enter to create a market for our business Only when service providers have to compete for our business will Anangu be treated as customers and clients, not like school kids or prisoners.
In Mimili, AP Services sacked the MSO without consulting with the community. When the community complained and wanted to hire an independent bookkeeper, AP Services cut the pay to the Assistant MSO and refused to hand over the books. Earlier this week there was a police stand-off as Bungala tried to remove equipment claimed by the community, after the community rejected Bungala as a CDEP supplier. There is great unhappiness.
Don’t let your community end up like this.
Be careful about going to meetings and workshops after which it might be said ”well we have consulted “them” and “this is what they want”. “Give us the funding”. Don’t be distracted by things which are not real. The reality is what has happened in Mimili. APY is controlled only by Anangu with very strong governance. It is not a puppet or plaything of funding providers or third parties. This is guaranteed by an Act of Parliament.
The APY Executive has been developing a plan since November 2007 to try to put in place a State Government guarantee of services so that sub-contracts are let to NGOs who must compete for our business. APY must consent to these sub-contracts and will ensure that Anangu are involved and employed in service delivery. In the result Anangu will have a strong voice and involvement from the start. For real.
Those claiming to be on the Governing Committee of AP Services have no legitimacy. They are not the Committee elected for two years in 2006.The APY Executive has been told that the majority of the true AP Services Governing Committee are about to start Federal Court proceedings to restore proper governance to AP Services. So the APY Executive resolved to give AP Services 60 days to hold a supervised (by ORATSIC) Annual General Meeting in Umuwa at which all Anangu are entitled to vote to elect a proper Governing Committee for 2008 to 2010. If AP Services doesn’t do this, APY will eject AP Services from the Lands and cancel all their permits.
Bruce Sean Williamson, A/Chairperson