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Chapter 6

Looking at the agencies

Indigenous issues

Indigenous issues menu: Introduction | Outreach activities | Engagement | Issues emerging from complaints and feedback

introduction

Now in its second year, the office's Indigenous Unit deals with complaints about the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) and other Indigenous programs in the Northern Territory (NT) where the Australian Government is involved. This year the office secured funding to continue its role in the NTER for the next three years. This reinforces the significant role that the office can play in supporting and promoting effective administration of the NTER and service delivery of other programs to Indigenous Australians.

Our initial focus was to visit as many of the prescribed communities as possible to provide information about our role, learn about the intervention, collect complaints and feedback, and in turn provide feedback to delivery agencies. Building on our early observations and knowledge, we have broadened our efforts to include:

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Outreach activities

This year we conducted 82 visits to communities and town camps in the NT, many of which were repeat visits. We aim to visit some communities twice and, where possible, to have a more regular presence in others. We now spend more time in communities to maximise the opportunity to obtain feedback from local people, service providers and other community stakeholders and groups. We talk to local people about the NTER measures more broadly and we allow sufficient time for people to raise issues and complaints with our staff.

This approach has enabled our office to develop a better understanding of the different issues affecting different communities. It means that we are well placed to both investigate complaints and to provide feedback to agencies on issues, emerging themes and areas of concern. Agencies have reported that the general feedback we provide has helped refine policy and improve service delivery, and has alerted them to potential problem areas at an early stage.

The office has also conducted joint outreach with other community and government agencies. We will continue to develop these collaborative relationships in order to maximise our outreach, share resources and better understand the issues.

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Engagement

Government agencies

A key focus of the Indigenous Unit this year has been to improve our engagement with the government agencies involved in NTER and Indigenous program delivery in the NT. This has included:

We welcome the assistance that we have received from the agencies and their willingness to work cooperatively with us to resolve issues and exchange information. For example, we visited one community with Centrelink staff to observe the way in which they approached the extension of income management. This assisted our office to gain a better understanding of issues raised by income–managed customers. Such monitoring activity provides another mechanism for this office to give feedback to government agencies involved in the NTER.

We have also worked with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and Centrelink to both raise general awareness of issues and to ensure that the issues identified in complaints about income management and the BasicsCard are taken into account when improvements are being made to these areas. We provided this feedback as part of our investigation into individual complaints as well as through specific meetings between FaHCSIA, Centrelink and this office.

By way of example, we received a large number of complaints about the difficulties that people face in accessing balances on their BasicsCard, and provided this feedback to the agencies. As balances cannot be accessed at the point of sale, people have reported embarrassment and difficulties when trying to do their grocery shopping without easily knowing the balance on their card. There are now computer access points in some customer service centres, and phones in more than 60 community stores which are 'hot linked' to the income management line. Centrelink released a Freecall 1800 number in July 2009 for customers to obtain their BasicsCard balance.

We are looking to enhance our agency liaison activities and to identify other strategies by which we can provide feedback and updates both to agencies and to the general public on the work that we are doing in the NTER. This may include information bulletins on our website, regular reports to senior level staff in agencies to highlight issues and observations, and increasing the frequency of liaison meetings with the main agencies involved in the NTER.

Community organisations

This year we also focused on greater engagement with community agencies and organisations. In addition to providing an important source of information on key issues, these organisations can direct their clients to our services if they have complaints or issues.

We held community round table meetings in Darwin and Alice Springs. We invited community agencies, organisations and advocates working with Indigenous issues in the NT. These forums focused mainly on providing information about the role of the Ombudsman's office and our approach in the NTER. We intend holding these forums twice a year. The focus of future meetings will be for people to raise issues, concerns or general feedback in relation to the NTER or other Indigenous programs in the NT, and for us to provide general feedback on our activities and systemic issues we have dealt with.

Northern Territory Ombudsman

Another important relationship for this office is with the Northern Territory Ombudsman's office. Two officers of the Indigenous Unit are based in Darwin and share offices with the NT Ombudsman's office. We have met with the NT Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman and staff to discuss strategies for working together.

Increasingly, complaints and issues raised with this office cut across local, territory and Commonwealth government responsibilities. This is not surprising given the greater integration and cooperation across the tiers of government in Indigenous program delivery. Often this division is not easily defined or understood.

Due to the nature of the NTER and provision of Indigenous programs and services to communities in the NT, there is an opportunity for the Commonwealth and NT Ombudsman offices to work more closely together to conduct outreach to Indigenous communities, investigate complaints, undertake joint investigations into systemic issues, share information, facilitate joint briefings on particular topics and undertake joint marketing and communication strategies. These strategies are an important step forward in continuing to provide effective oversight and complaint management where all levels of government are jointly involved in policy development and service delivery affecting Indigenous Australians.

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Issues emerging from complaints and feedback

We have received more than 300 complaints and obtained significantly more information through discussions with communities that we do not record separately as complaints. Through complaint investigations and feedback provided to us during outreach activities, we are well placed to identify problems and report these to agencies. We also provide another important avenue of communication about government programs and decisions to Indigenous people in the NT. Often complaints can be quickly resolved by people being given up–to–date, comprehensive information about issues affecting them or their community.

This year we have used knowledge gained from complaint investigations, feedback and outreach in making submissions to the:

Through complaint investigations we have also been able to achieve some good outcomes for individuals, including:

Income management

Last year we reported on a number of issues in relation to income management, including communication about how it works, the availability of material and information in Indigenous languages and people's access to their money. These themes have persisted in the complaints received this year. Many of these concerns have been specific to the BasicsCard.

The introduction of the BasicsCard was a positive development for many income–managed customers. It provided another allocation avenue by which people could access their income-managed funds, and offered increased flexibility as to where the funds could be spent.

Centrelink produced material to assist customers to understand how the BasicsCard worked, including information sheets and a video which is shown to customers before they receive their card. Despite this, we received a large number of complaints from people from many different communities, of diverse ages and varying literacy levels, and from different language groups, which showed that people do not fully understand how the BasicsCard works.

One particular issue, highlighted earlier, is the limitations on how people can find out the balance on their BasicsCard. We fed these concerns back to the government agencies and also provided information to complainants about the specific options available to them to find out their balances.

Another issue complainants highlighted was the difficulties people face when they want to transfer money from their Centrelink income management account to their BasicsCard. One complainant reported that she was placed on hold for her entire lunch break when she telephoned Centrelink to transfer money to her card. As she was calling from her mobile phone, the call cost more than $10.

The introduction of income management increased Centrelink's service delivery requirements to Indigenous people in the NT. Customers are required to have higher levels of interaction and involvement with Centrelink than previously. They are also faced with a significant change in how their welfare payments are managed, the consequential requirements upon them and the need for them to understand how it all works. We have received a large number of complaints stemming from both the extra requirements on Centrelink's service delivery and customers not fully understanding the new system. The case study Credit in the wet provides an example.

Credit in the wet

Mr C was income–managed by Centrelink. He contacted Centrelink to enquire about income management and exemption from income management. Mr C explained to Centrelink that he was unable to access any community stores during the wet season when the river rises. Mr C therefore purchased essential supplies to last him through the entire season and paid for this bulk purchase with his credit card. As Mr C's funds were income–managed he was unable to pay off his credit card. In response to Mr C's enquiries, Centrelink informed him that due to the area he lived in he could not be exempt from income management. Mr C sought internal review of the decision but was not successful.

Following our enquiries, Centrelink contacted Mr C to discuss his situation and explore different options. After it was understood that Mr C's core issue concerned the payment of his credit card, Centrelink agreed to set up a regular allocation towards Mr C's credit card using his income–managed funds.

In this case, the customer was not seeking an exemption from income management, but he did not know what his options were and possibly used the wrong terminology when he contacted Centrelink. However, this office is of the view that his contact with Centrelink and his queries should have prompted Centrelink to take a more holistic view of the matter and explore options to resolve the situation in a timely manner.

Communication and consultation

Over the past year there has been a range of developments in the NTER measures and other Indigenous programs across Australia as well as in the NT including:

We acknowledge the significant challenges that the introduction of new programs present for government agencies. A particular challenge for agencies is to provide people with information about these programs and ensure they understand what is happening and how it will affect them and their community. This is a common theme in many of the complaints we receive.

Concerns about the Government's communication and consultation with people and communities about the NTER and other Indigenous programs remain. People are often concerned about changes happening in their communities without their input being sought.

Complaints and observations stemming from our outreach activities indicate that communication strategies may not always be successful because of the following:

Implementation challenges in remote communities

People often report that their community is different, or that the community already had strategies in place to address issues of concern. The NTER was an emergency response and by its nature needed to be implemented quickly and across the board. However, after two years and with the redesign of NTER measures currently being considered, the Government has an opportunity to build on what it has learnt since the intervention commenced and use its consultation activities to better understand the needs and views of individual communities. Feedback and complaints highlight a need for more consultation and efforts to ensure a more flexible approach to program implementation, taking into account the characteristics and needs of particular communities.

For example, one complaint we investigated in relation to the School Nutrition Program (SNP) drew attention to the challenges faced by agencies when attempting to quickly implement programs across a large number of communities, where the policy intention of the program is to work closely with communities to develop tailored solutions.

The SNP aims to improve school attendance and children's nutrition by providing breakfast and lunch to school aged children in the NT. It also aims to provide employment opportunities for local Indigenous people. The case study Lunch program for school students shows how communication problems led to concern in one community.

This case highlighted the complexities involved in implementing programs in remote communities where the success of these programs relies on community support and input. The enormity of this challenge cannot be overstated and should be factored into any planning to ensure that a 'one size fits all' approach is not adopted and that communities are engaged in planning and decision making about matters that affect them.

Lunch program for school students

Ms D complained, among other things, that the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) did not tell the women in one community that they were not successful in being approved to run the SNP to prepare lunches for the schoolchildren in their community. In addition, DEEWR had decided to give the SNP to another provider who was not a community member. Ms D said that the women in the community still wanted to do the SNP and they were unhappy with DEEWR's decision.

Our investigation showed that DEEWR visited the community on a number of occasions to explore options for the delivery of the SNP. A number of parties were involved in these discussions and different options were being considered. It appeared that consideration of the different options at the same time, the women not always being available to speak with DEEWR, and the urgency to get the SNP up and running, led to a breakdown in communication and some additional challenges for DEEWR in ensuring that all parties were kept in the loop in finding a solution.

The focus to get the SNP established within limited timeframes appeared to impact on the objectives of working with the community to find a solution that would have community support and create local employment opportunities. As a result the women in the community did not support the SNP and they missed out on job creation and skill development opportunities.

DEEWR returned to the community in early 2009 and negotiated a new SNP which involves the women in the community now preparing the lunches for their children to eat at school.

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