Adelaide is home to many people from the APY Lands who move to the metropolitan area for access to education, health and wellbeing services, and other reasons. This includes two members of the Far North Local First Nations Voice, Melissa Thompson and Dharma Ducasse-Singer, who held a community engagement session with Anangu at Tauondi College, Port Adelaide.

Attendees spoke about Anangu being driven to Adelaide and other larger towns due to the lack of health services in the APY Lands, placing a burden on housing and accommodation. Attendees were keen to see Anangu enabled to return to homelands through a holistic approach that addresses cultural, health and education needs as well as pathways to employment. The need for a healing centre within the APY Lands was seen as a solution.

Our thanks to Tauondi for hosting this event, along with interpreters from Iwiri and staff from the Department for Human Services (DHS) who supported attendees.

Far North Members will be hosting more opportunities for hearing community views later in the year. Feedback can also be provided to Members at any time via the Voice’s online form.