At the latest Senate Estimates hearings, the Department of Health was asked what progress was being made on dialysis in Central Australia.
Most would not know what this is about, but it goes to funding of $10 million set aside by the Commonwealth for the Northern Territory Government in 2011.
That funding was to be used to provide accommodation for dialysis patients from remote communities coming to Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. The Department of Health responded at the estimates hearing that it had just received a new proposal from the Northern Territory Government and that the funding allocated three years ago was still in the Commonwealth’s bank account.
This may appear to be good news, but it comes after sufferers of kidney disease and their families have had to endure more hardship and a community organisation established by Aboriginal people to help them has had had to divert much of its resources and time to advocate for a resolution.
The Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation or Western Desert Dialysis was established by Pintupi people who raised one million dollars from auctioning their own art to establish the first 'on community' dialysis service in Kintore in 2004 so that sufferers of kidney disease and their families did not have to travel to Alice Springs with all the problems and costs that this entails.
Since then, Western Desert Dialysis has found a way to expand its services to other remote desert communities in Central Australia. This has been due to the incredible efforts of individuals like its CEO, Sarah Brown, and its partner, Caritas Australia, which provides funding through its First Australians Program, all raised from donations.
The $10 million from the Commonwealth, if spent in partnership with Western Desert Dialysis, could make a real difference. It should be spent in remote communities so that dialysis patients and their families do not have to travel into Alice Springs with all the challenges that this entails.
Western Dialysis’s model works. The fact that, after three years, there is no resolution of how the funding will be spent, including any knowledge of the proposal that the Territory Government has put to the Commonwealth, is a shocking response to the needs of one of the most vulnerable groups in Australia.
It is easy to blame the Territory Government. Its record on Indigenous Affairs, including its use of extra Commonwealth funding, is not good. But the Commonwealth also must take