Fly-in, Fly-out model broken
Study points to new model for community service delivery in remote Australia
Social services in Australia’s most remote and economically depressed regions are poorly co-ordinated, duplicated or ad hoc because they are too often delivered by agencies without a physical presence on the ground.
That is the implication of a new study – Remote Control Communities - into services in the local government region of Central Darling Shire in the far west of New South Wales.
Conducted in conjunction with Charles Sturt University, Remote Control Communities found that up to 46 different agencies were providing services to the Shire’s mostly indigenous population of 2,000, dispersed over an area the size of Tasmania.
With few exceptions, services including health, housing, education, domestic violence support and child protection were provided by people who did not live in the Shire and visited only infrequently. This led to duplication, inhibited co-ordination of services, and meant some services were not made available at all to the Shire, the study found.
Central Darling Shire General Manager, Tim Hazell, said the study was a wake-up call to the many government and charitable agencies providing services in remote Australia, and pointed to a greater role for local government streamlining service delivery.
“Remote Control Communities is an important contribution to the ongoing debate around the how best to deliver services in remote Australia,” Mr Hazell said.
“While the study is unique to the Central Darling region, its findings will come as no surprise to many other remote regions,” he said.
“They suggest strongly the current ‘fly-in, fly-out’ model of remote service delivery is broken, too often resulting in a mish-mash of services that lack leadership, long-term planning or co-ordination, and waste money.
“The study reveals the need for a stable presence on the ground to co-ordinate, and in some cases deliver, services in remote areas. There is a strong case for local government to play this role. We are the only permanent presence in many remote areas, we live and work in the towns and we know what they need.”
Central Darling Shire spans the townships of Wilcannia (population 700), Menindee (680), Ivanhoe (350) and White Cliffs (260).
According to the most recent Census data1, Central Darling ranks as the second most disadvantaged local government area in New South Wales. Average weekly family income across the Shire is $518 less than the national average, local measures put the unemployment rate at up to 60%, and incidences of social dysfunction among the Shire’s indigenous population are high.
The study, which commenced in July 2008, was a detailed analysis of the work being undertaken by 46 federal and state government and non-government community service agencies operating within the Central Darling Shire. Among findings:
• With few exceptions, services were provided by outreach, or ‘remote control’ from regional centres such as Broken Hill, Dubbo, Griffith and others even further removed. Reasons given for agencies not basing themselves in the Shire included a lack of housing and available staff.
• Few agencies co-ordinated their work with other providers, resulting in duplication, conflict between agencies and confusion among residents.
• Many services were provided on short-term funding cycles – for example, annually - inhibiting long-term planning
• Some services, such as vocational rehabilitation and disability employment, were not made available at all even though agencies were funded to do so.
A key theme emerging was the lack of a connection between many service providers and the Shire population, owing to the lack of a physical presence on the ground.
Study recommendations include appointing of a regional human services coordinator to work with service providers; co-locating service providers as a way to strengthen a physical presence on the ground; and funding programs over cycles no shorter than three to five years.
The Shire has also called on the Federal Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the primary funding body for many of the services delivered in the region, to conduct its own study of service delivery in the Central Darling, possibly as a model for other remote and disadvantaged regions.
“It is timely to rethink the model under which services are delivered to remote areas and this study provides a roadmap for such a rethink,” Mr Hazell said. “The study raises important issues that deserve further analysis. We now want to work with the Minister, Jenny Macklin, and her department to undertake that analysis and make necessary changes to address the shortcomings,” he said.
Author of the study, Remote Control Communities – Action Agendas to Improve the Delivery of Human Services in the Central Darling Shire, Lee-Anne Drewery, was awarded Charles Sturt University’s prestigious Lila Kirilik Prize for social action.
Copies of the report are available on request.
Contact details
Kym Fuller
Tel: 0880 838900
council@centraldarling.nsw.gov.au
