Staying on Country: Infrastructure Needs for Remote Community Viability

The biosecurity injunction to 'stay at home' presumes much about the state of housing. For many Indigenous people, overcrowded, poorly designed, and intermittently maintained housing makes such retreat an unhealthy, unsafe option. But responsibility for infrastructural failure is often unclear. This project investigates the history of remote infrastructural formations from the self-determination era to today, to examine the governance and hardware requirements to sustain residents' livelihoods on country. Its findings will inform ongoing efforts for community resilience, regarding the infrastructural provision necessary for remote communities in northern and central Australia, given increasing climate change and infection control stressors.

An examination of housing maintenance and level of readiness for the stressors of disease and climate change

The guiding thread of the work—what is required infrastructurally to enable people to stay on or near their country, amid climate change and other pressures—has been impactful. Indicative achievements to date:
• Informed Senate Estimates inquiries into Indigenous housing and water insecurity
• Galvanised a campaign for a Safe Drinking Water Act, NT
• leveraged two related AHURI grants
• 10 peer-reviewed publications (Q1 majority) and public outreach (e.g. Conversation, ABC TV, website)
• Project ECRs Grealy and Howey have secured ongoing work: Liam Grealy as housing researcher, Menzies School of Health Research; Kirsty Howey as Director, Environment Centre NT, leading campaigns for viable environments in regional and remote areas