Atitjere News

During the recent rainy weather Atitjere has experienced a number of nearby and direct hit lightning strikes in and around the community.

Due to a break in the weather and the uncertainty of what is ahead a plan was put in place to deliver much needed Aged Care hampers and medical supplies to Irrerlirre Homeland.

In December Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Aged Care held their bi-monthly meeting, attended by staff from the Alice Springs office and Aged Care Coordinators from Nyirripi, Lajamanu, Willowra, Engawala, Atitjere and Wilora.

A supplementary election for the Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) ward of Akityarre is coming up in March. Below are a few important dates:

Ziah Webb dressed as Santa with the winning entry by Marie Ross.

Atitjere Community celebrated Christmas with its annual Christmas parade.

The event was a great success and was well received by the whole community. Children’s Ground provided the food for the BBQ and Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) set up the community BBQ trailer for use on the night. The cooks were local ladies supported by Children’s Ground staff.

Natalie Petrick – Community Safety Patrol, and Di Schrader – Atitjere Administration Officer, using the face mask disposal boxThe Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) office in Atitjere has a box especially for the disposal of face masks. Staff take the box straight out to the cardboard pit at the landfill for burning, with no risk of masks floating out from the landfill.

“The box is burned as well so there isn’t any risk of staff handling used masks. There are always heaps of cardboard boxes between us and the store!” said Warren Kenney, Manager, Council Services Delivery – East.

“Community members seem to be getting on board with the mask wearing and are happy that they can safely get rid of used masks,” he added.

At the end of October 2021, the Commercial Services team from Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) converged in Alice Springs for in-house training.

In one of the sessions of the training the team reviewed the upcoming changes to employment services in regional and remote Australia; particularly, Government’s decision to change the Community Development Program (CDP) to a new remote jobs program in 2023. There was also a representative from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) Central Australia office Engagement Team who attended a session to talk about the provider performance review process.

The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) 2020-21 annual report has been sent to the Minister for Local Government, Chansey Paech MLA, and is now up on the CDRC website. The annual report shows the progress CDRC has made against the Strategic Plan throughout the financial year and the CDRC annual financial statements. It also includes achievements and stories of the CDRC communities.

You can read the annual report here: 2020-2021 Annual Report

Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) has been recognised as a Winner for Employer of Choice in The Australian Business Awards 2021. The Australian Business Awards for Employer of Choice recognises organisations that develop leading workplaces that maximise the full potential of their workforce through established policies and practices that demonstrate effective employee recruitment, engagement and retention.

CDRC is a Local Government entity that operates in the Northern Territory, to the north of Alice Springs, with boundaries that go from the Queensland Border to the WA border covering a land area of 282,064km2. The municipal area is home to approximately 4,200 people and spread over eleven Indigenous communities and one town. Council’s workforce of around 240 staff, over 69% of whom are Indigenous, is spread over those twelve locations and also in the Alice Springs based headquarters. The area is home to the most disadvantaged people in the Northern Territory, and CDRC’s core mission is to build sustainable communities through service delivery, advocacy, and community engagement.

The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Atitjere Municipal Works Team have just taken delivery of a new Kubota SVL75 skid steer. 

Shane White, Nathan Fishook and David Rankine got familiar with the new machine on Tuesday, 28 September. 

The new machine has a higher lifting capacity and is tracked making it more suitable for landfill works than the older JCB wheeled skid steer that it replaces. The control layout and cabin is very similar to the old machine making the change over easy. The cabin in the new skid steer is air conditioned and has an adjustable suspension seat that makes operation comfortable. It also has an auger attachment and extension forks for the front end loader making it very versatile.