Listening Tour Week 9 & 10: NT
PLACE Listening Tour | Weeks 9 & 10 : Care That Moves At The Speed Of Trust
Last week, we travelled across the Northern Territory from Darwin to Galiwin’ku, Alice Springs to Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa) where communities are showing what it means to build care systems from the inside out. This isn’t a pilot. It’s not a project. It’s a practice woven through culture, time, and trust. Local leaders are walking their own paths, guided by strong community governance, a shared vision for change, and inclusive solutions.
Our Journey
Darwin • Galiwin’ku • Alice Springs • Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa)
Words That Stayed With Us
“We don’t need more pilots. We need staying power.”
“People come in and ask for a quick snapshot—but we’re living the whole film.”
“Culture is not something you add in later. It's where you start.”
“The road eats the cars. But the people are ready.”
“It’s very easy to take something away. But to try and get something back—that’s the hard part.”
“All our priorities come from the ground. Through people in communities doing the work.”
What Works, On the Ground
Darwin | Youth Employment, Data & Disability Inclusion
In Berrimah, we marked 27 years of YouthWorx NT supporting young Territorians into skills, confidence and real work. Place-based by nature, collaborative by design YouthWorx now leads the Greater Darwin Community Investment Committee (CIC), the largest in the country, driving local solutions to local problems with a strong focus on young people and people with disability.
Through CIC, partners like YouthWorx, the National Youth Employment Body (NYEB), and the Brotherhood of St. Laurence are building long-term pathways not just pilots. Their advocacy recently led to the first major shift in public transport planning in Darwin in 35 years, improving access to jobs in high-demand areas like East Arm.
Compass, a place-based data tool, is helping the community understand what’s happening for young people and why it matters. Co-designed with local partners, it’s now shaping programs, policy conversations and grant writing. Paired with the Youth Employment Toolkit, it's giving employers and young people practical tools to navigate work with confidence.
And the stories? Powerful.
Lyle, now a YouthWorx co-facilitator, is growing into leadership.
Aaron, a car enthusiast, discovered his strength in advocacy for young people with disability.
“Super Sam” turned IT training into a pathway out of depression and towards a new future.
Employers like Yasmin at McDonald’s are reshaping recruitment to meet young people where they are.
“It was good to know I’m not the only one… it helped me think more broadly about what I could do.”
This is what happens when you invest in young people not just as clients, but as contributors and changemakers.
Galiwin’ku | Culture-Led Systems, Community-Grown Care
In Galiwin’ku, we began our visit with leaders of the Walking Together partnership a Yolngu-led health initiative developed with Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, the University of Melbourne, and the Peter Doherty Institute. This is not about delivering health to community, it’s about building systems with community.
Yolngu leadership guides every stage of design, delivery and governance.
Programs are bilingual and rooted in local metaphors, law and language.
Western medicine is integrated with Yolŋu knowledge and healing practices.
Training and employment pathways are growing local health leadership.
This is care as relationship, not just service. And it’s part of a broader Yolngu vision for thriving futures led from Country, backed by evidence, and strengthened through shared learning between Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners.
“There is disconnect at this level with health, education, transport ... everyone struggles to gather the data, to make the change”.
We also met with the Marthakal Homelands Resource Centre and Aboriginal Corporation, where we saw how Yolngu governance, environmental care, and infrastructure are held together through cultural authority. Marthakal is not just a service provider, it’s a backbone organisation supporting Yolngu self-determination across homelands.
“Homeland is a place (it’s a home), not a grey land, we have cultural education, teaching, learning (kids go camping learn through country, sing and dance so they don’t miss that information about the land, the people) and walking together - balancing the two - showing the government it’s not just bush. We are people of culture.” Jane Gandangu, Chair MHRCAC.
On Friday, we joined local rangers to hear about pressing biosecurity concerns, including unauthorised visitors and government or military arrivals without proper consent. At a Homeland, we witnessed the lasting impacts of remoteness—a washed-up Indonesian fishing boat still resting on the beach, untouched.
Alice Springs | Connection, Culture, and Systems Thinking
Our journey through Mparntwe (Alice Springs) began with a walk through the Desert Knowledge Precinct, where innovation is grounded in community, climate and Country.
We visited: DKA Business and Innovation Centre, DKA Solar Centre, Stolen Generations Garden of Reflection, Batchelor Institute and Library and Centre for Appropriate Technology.
We heard from on-site organisations doing critical work at local, regional and national level, and were also invited into a community stakeholder meeting hosted by Desert Knowledge Australia, where local and regional leaders gathered to share initiatives, explore collaboration, and elevate community voices. Stakeholders included:
Akeyulerre Aboriginal Corporation, Alice Springs Town Council, BushMob Aboriginal Corporation, Chamber of Commerce NT, Children’s Ground, Department of Education, Desert Knowledge Australia (DKA), Blakdoll Sports and Fitness, Hoops 4 Health, Indigenous Desert Alliance, Jesuit Social Services, Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, Mparntwe Alice Springs Community Foundation, and Saltbush NT.
On Tuesday we visited Children’s Ground, where Arrernte families and leaders are shaping a 25-year vision across education, health and social and emotional wellbeing. We visited town camps like Irrkerlantye (White Gate) where water is trucked in, power comes from solar panels, and residents live in tin sheds. And yet, the strength of leadership is undeniable. At Ewyenper Atwatye (Hidden Valley), early years programs are being run in community, by community.
Community said:
“We want to be the changemakers because we are already on the ground.”
“We’re not waiting for permission. We’re already doing the work.”
“We are in the business of hope.”
Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa) | Leadership as a Daily Act of Love
At Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), we were warmly welcomed by the Board of Atyenhenge Atherre Aboriginal Corporation (AAAC). Over lunch, we heard directly from Elders, local organisations and service providers about what place-based empowerment looks like in practice:
Aspirations and challenges for future generations
Community-led employment strategies
Cultural governance and daily acts of leadership
Community said:
“It’s very easy to take something away, but to try get something back is very difficult”
“They have to see problems through our eyes”
Highlights included:
The horse program, run by local stockmen mentoring youth
The 5-year remote youth employment pilot in partnership with PRF
Stories of women who have long carried leadership without recognition
Local social enterprise ideas like Spinifex Skateboards
Moments That Mattered Across the NT tour leg
Watching Yolngu young people step into leadership because community leaders believed in them.
Sitting with Santa Teresa women, learning how leadership is a daily act of love.
Yolngu metaphors for healing through land, language, and law.
Alice Springs leaders naming burnout not from the work, but from fighting to do the work.
Seeing how Marthakal operates not as a service provider but as a cultural backbone.
Hearing Elders reminds us: “Services will never work unless they sit still and listen.”
Reflections from the Road
Place-based leadership across the NT is not theory, it’s everyday practice.
True safety is built through culture, continuity, and community not surveillance.
Communities are already walking together. The challenge is for systems to slow down and join them.
Workforce challenges, burnout, cultural load, role clarity are real. But the answers are already alive in community.
What’s needed? Long-term partnerships. Unrestricted funding. And trust in what is already working.
A recurring reflection from Sean Gordon, PLACE Chair, “The challenge is how to sustain the relationships especially when they only regroup during crises.”