13 hours ago.<\/p>\n
Updated\u00a06 minutes ago<\/p>\n
The Aboriginal corporation funded to support Alice Springs town camps and provide broader Indigenous safety and community programs spends more on employee costs than the entire Alice Springs council, which serves about 30,000 people in the Central Australian town.<\/p>\n
As further evidence of dire town camp living conditions is published today, and demands grow for greater accountability on funding arrangements, The Australian can reveal the Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation spent $24m on staff costs<\/a>, its 2025 financial statement shows, while the Alice Springs Town Council, which services about 11,000 households, outlaid $22m in the same period. Both have a similar number of employees.<\/p>\n Tangentyere is funded to provide a range of employment, youth and domestic violence services as well as repairs and maintenance to the town camps, which contain about 256 homes for 1055 residents recorded in the 2021 Census. This figure is likely to be conservative and does not account for the fluctuating number of people travelling in from remote communities, which can lead to severe overcrowding.<\/p>\n Conditions across the estimated 16 town camps range from basic to unsanitary and some community leaders and residents are \u00addemanding to know where the $27m in government grants to Tangentyere last financial year is being spent.<\/p>\n In the Karnte town camp, about five kilometres south of Alice Springs, resident Rhonda Bob, 37, told The Australian on Sunday that the shower and cooktop in the house she shared with her brother hadn\u2019t worked for years, but her main worry was safety. She requires renal dialysis and is concerned an intruder may enter the house at night because the door cannot be locked. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want anyone to come in \u2026 I need safety,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m worrying about this one,\u201d she said as she pointed at a door with a non-existent latch. <\/p>\n Ms Rob said calls to Tangentyere had gone unanswered. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen we called Tangentyere, they didn\u2019t come and fix this,\u201d she said as she pointed at the door. \u201cI was waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.\u201d <\/p>\n She said they agreed they would attend: \u201cBut nothing, we didn\u2019t see that Tangentyere mob come.\u201d <\/p>\n In the bathroom, she held up the handle of a tap that was detached from the wall. <\/p>\n \u201cI told them many years (ago) for this one. I was helping my brother, too, telling (them) to put new stove in, but that\u2019s from long, long time.\u201d<\/p>\n A senior Alice Springs elder, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was \u201cconcerning for everyone\u201d that payroll costs for Tangentyere were $2m higher than the town council\u2019s while the conditions in many of the overcrowded town camp homes were \u201cunliveable\u201d.<\/p>\n The elder, who branded Tangentyere \u201creally secretive\u201d, called for a change in leadership. <\/p>\n \u201cIt fell apart because there\u2019s a lack of accountability, lack of responsibility. It needs a changing of guard. They\u2019ve had the same cohort of people in there in charge since forever, and they\u2019re not winning the game,\u201d the elder said.<\/p>\n He said he \u201cwouldn\u2019t have a clue\u201d where the millions of dollars in funding poured into the organisation were going.<\/p>\n