Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

The notion that the government business managers will be working alongside people will vary from community to community. We accept that one of the most important parts of the intervention is to recognise the diversity of the communities and where they are up to. Many are wonderful, strong, vibrant, operational communities and, at the other end of the scale, there are dysfunctional communities, with very few governance arrangements that one could put any trust in. So, when the government business managers move in to improve the delivery of the services in the prescribed communities in the Northern Territory, they will do it in a way that reflects on the particular circumstances of a community.

Four FaCSIA staff have been deployed to cover Kintore, Imanpa, Titjikala, Santa Theresa, Finke, Mutitjulu and Yuendumu in the southern part of the Northern Territory. You may not be aware of this, but we would anticipate another 25 to 30 applicants who will be offered the government business management position. We have not determined the destinations, the designations and the deployment dates as yet. They will be affected by release dates from the current agencies. You can imagine the challenges with housing in some of these areas. There is no set time for these to be rolled out. The principle is that there are different circumstances in each community, and those circumstances will be taken into consideration in terms of the role of the government business manager.