Local social services in South Australian towns say they are struggling to cope with population pressures as a result of the 2007 Northern Territory Intervention.
Many Aboriginal people have fled the territory seeking respite from Federal restrictions on welfare and alcohol consumption.
For towns across the border like Coober Pedy, the population influx has swamped local services, with numbers more than doubling since 2007.
“The next party town was Coober Pedy so we copped the brunt of all the transients coming down specifically to drink,” said Steve Baines, Mayor of Coober Pedy.
“It caused homelessness, it cause abuse and it caused a huge strain off the resources of the town.”
The Umoona Tjutagku Health Service provides a free medical clinic, medicine run and breakfast for Aboriginal people.
In the financial year from 2007, the health service saw just over 3,600 people.
The following year, the number jumped to 8,788 clients, and almost 10,000 people have walked through the clinic door in 2011.
Priscilla Larkins, CEO of the health service, says the breakfast room had to cope with an extra 30 people every day, following the Intervention.
“It was actually putting a lot of pressure on our health workers and our nurses. It's not an easy situation,” she says.
A lot of people come with no money, no accommodation, they're sleeping down the creeks.”
In 2008, the council of the nearby Aboriginal community of Umoona, and the Coober Pedy council, submitted a report to the Intervention Review board, requesting extra funding to cope with the population increase.
The report compared numbers from Aboriginal programs in the two financial years from 2006-2008.
It showed an average population increase of over 100 per cent.
However, the councils failed to receive any extra funding.
In a statement from the Department of Indigenious Affairs about the report, a spokesperson said:
“The movement between communities and towns is not new. Communities such as Coober Pedy and Port Augusta have traditionally experienced a seasonal increase of people travelling from remote communities for many years and when this occurs, service providers and various government agencies, including Federal Government agencies, work together to support the increase in population."
However many locals believe the government's position is simply a convenient justification for the lack of extra funding.
George Cooley, Chairman on the Umoona Council board, says that one of the major concerns of the community is the lack of government support.
“It gets to a stage whether there's any point in applying to the government for any help at all,” he says.
“It's a waste of time.”
Instead, the Coober Pedy and Umoona councils have worked together to establish services with the little funding they already receive from the federal government.
In addition to the Umoona Tjutagku Health Service, the town has established a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, employment services, and a daily activity centre.
Story by Amanda Hoh and Nick Evershed
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