NT election outcome signals new era

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A new approach is likely to economic development in remote Aboriginal communities as a result of the resounding victory of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) election held last weekend.
It now looks as though the CLP have won 16 seats in the 25 seat Parliament with one seat held by the Independent Gerry Wood and the balance by the outgoing Labor Party with eights seats – down from the previous 12 seats.

Picture courtesy NT News

The significant element to the result was the success “in the bush” – all those seats outside of Darwin and Alice Springs – now held by CLP members of Parliament and which were previously Labor held seats.
The gains have seen the following significance Aboriginal people being elected to the Parliament:
Alison Anderson – Seat of Namatjiraa - previous Labour Minister under leader and Chief Minister Paul Henderson who defected to the cross benches in 2009 and then joined the CLP. Ms Anderson has been outspoken in her views on the Federal Intervention, that 12 maxi Shires replaced some 80 Community Government Councils and the new Stronger Futures legislation for the next ten years from Canberra.

Francis Xavier Maralampuwi – Seat of Arafura – a local Traditional Aboriginal man from Nguiu, Bathurst Island where he has lived all his life with distinction as a leader in the Community Government Council, Land Council and more recently the Shires. Maralampuwi has a good record in sport as a footballer and in charity work helping people with alcohol and drug problems for the past 30 years. He has won the Seat of Arafura by a 58 seat margin – a seat formerly held for 11 years by popular ALP member Marion Scrymgour who also had a strong local following. It was the people of Nguiu that have put Maralampuwi into Parliament with an 80% support from that polling booth.
Bess Price – Seat of Stuart- has ousted former Henderson Government Minister Karl Hampton. Ms Price has developed her own strong personal profile as a person who will say it as it is and not resort to politically correct verbage when describing how she sees the major issues confronting Aboriginal people in the “bush”. Her views are well known in the National sphere through appearances in shows such as ABC Q & A and SBS Insight. Her margin was a mere 187 votes in an electorate that is larger that most countries in Europe and spans from the centre around Alice Springs through the Tanami Desert to places like Timber Creek on the main highway to WA.
Larissa Lee – Seat of Arnhem – has won from popular Government Minister for Indigenous Affairs Malandari McCarthy – a former ABC journalist in Darwin and well known traditional Aboriginal person from Borroloola. The seat had been uncontested in 2008 and the selection of Larissa as the candidate was a stroke of brilliance by the CLP given her powerful family background being the daughter of the late Jawoyn Aboriginal Elder Robert Lee. An Aboriginal Health Worker from Barunga, Larissa won the seat with a 10.6% margin.

The above four persons have brought about the change in Government and the strength of the effort means that a 100% commitment has been made for doing things better for the “bush”.
One of the key elements of any improvement program will be more jobs and developing real economies in places (towns) that have up until now relied on no competition, welfare handouts and a static work environment with unemployment being the main occupation.

And this is where pharmacy comes in on two fronts.
The first is bringing into the community money that is currently going to the main centres of Alice Springs and Darwin by way of surpluses made on trading with Medicare for the supply of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines. This could all be going to these towns with the strategic placement of local pharmacy businesses in the Growth Towns. There are many young pharmacists keen to establish there own businesses and what better or more challenging place to do it than a remote Aboriginal community classified as a “Growth Town” and with the support of a Government committed to creating economies.
The second contribution pharmacy (or pharmacists) can make is the provision of a “point of sale” for all things that will lead to a healthy lifestyle – food, activities, exercise programs, books, DVDs, motivational programs and the many many things that are taken for granted in “mainstream” culture way but denied of these people by a governance that has seen no reason for competition or no more that one store.

A comparison between an Aboriginal Growth Town and a mainstream country town shows that there are 15 retail outlets in the mainstream town compared with five in Aboriginal land and yet a disposable income far higher with the Aboriginals than in mainstream. This is because they pay very little rent for fewer houses and are not likely to own a car. If the cost of these is taken out of a family budget it is not hard to find and extra $500 a fortnight and yet have nothing useful to spend it on. In one store there is 35% of purchases spent on tobacco products and this has increased over the past 20 years by 2%. Quite unlike the downward spiral in mainstream where tobacco products have gone down from around 60 % of the population smoking to 15% in the same period (20 years). Problem – no point of sale for health promotion – just messages through print and media.

The CLP Government comes into office with the following policy commitments:
o The creation of a commercial environment so that businesses can earn decent profits and grow.
o The creation of a strong and growing economy by allowing and encouraging private industry to thrive.
o Expanding the Small Business Advisory Service across the whole Territory will help more Indigenous people in remote communities get into real jobs and off welfare.
o Shires and Regional councils will be assisted to pursue new business opportunities to expand their service and revenue base.
o Regional Councils will give a greater say to local people on where money is spent and how services are delivered in their region.
o The Country Liberals are committed to delivering a stronger local voice, better services and a safer, more prosperous future for our regions.
No better climate could have been created for emerging pharmacy businesses but it is now for the industry to get behind and back such a progression. The present profile in the NT shows that for a population of 220,000 there are 28 pharmacies – one per 7.900 persons compared with a National figure of one per 4,200.
The difference is in the persons in remote communities NOT being served by a pharmacy meaning that the profits from their communities is going to the big stakeholders in Alice Springs and Darwin.
Now is the time to jump and a consortium started that will seize the opportunity and allow many young pharmacists to make a contribution which although not being the most rewarding financially will certainly be rewarding in health outcomes through professional satisfaction.
Ends
Comments welcome to Rollo Manning, PO Box 98 Parap NT or rollom@iinet.net.au or 0411 049 872