ALLEGATIONS of “dodgy deals” for agriculture equipment – purchased with grant funding – plus the sale of water allocations, have led residents of a Riverland indigenous community to demand the removal of their council directors.
Gerard community registered members of the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) last month sent a letter to the Gerard Community Council Aboriginal Corporation requesting all council directors be immediately removed from their positions.
Gerard Council liaison officer Tyson Lindsay said the measures were required to stop what he claimed were “bad governance (and) unprofessional practices”.
“The Gerard community wants the council to step down, and they’ve put a letter into ORIC with two resolutions,” Mr Lindsay said.
“They’ve put a resolution forward for all council members to stand down, and then resolution two is to have new directors and council members appointed on the same day.
“This will benefit the community, because they are sick and tired of the same guys getting money from the government, getting these grants, and then nothing happens or (the situation) only gets worse.”
Signatories of the document include Gerard community members Gertrude Lindsay, Deanna Zekuschis, Delilah Lindsay and Howard Lindsay.
Documents obtained by the Murray Pioneer indicate the Gerard Reserve Council Inc had sold 75ML of its water allocation – at a price of $420 per ML – for a total of $30,150 on November 29, 2018.
A special meeting of the Gerard Council was then held on March 27, 2019, when resolutions to immediately revoke any person’s authority over the council’s water licence – preventing any future sales of water rights and to cease “any current sales of water” – were passed.
Mr Lindsay claims the sale of Gerard Council’s water allocations was conducted without the full knowledge of councillors.
Mr Lindsay also alleges agricultural equipment purchased with grant funding – including two silage balers, a small square baler and a 32-plate offset disc, all purchased in 2015 – had been sold to third-party businesses.
“One of the latest grants was a $2 million grant from SARMS (the South Australian River Murray Sustainability Program) and the majority of that equipment disappeared overnight without the council even knowing,” he said.
“That was supposed to be solely for the community, and not supposed to be sold to resolve a debt or anything like that.”
Mr Lindsay said his personal desire to generate new areas for employment in Gerard had uncovered what he believed was long-term misconduct from the council.
“I wanted to speak to the community and see what they wanted, what problems they were having and how I could help,” he said.
“Then I started to come across this… behaviour from the Gerard council.
“I heard all the stories before, but I didn’t know how bad it really was until I started to question their behaviour.”
Mr Lindsay said the council’s actions had limited the Gerard community’s opportunities for economic development.
“(The council) doesn’t abide by their own constitution, which is very sad,” he said.
“The community is seeing this happen and they think ‘If the Gerard Council is not caring for us, then who does?’.
“This is very well known in the Aboriginal community, and the only ones who would be going against the changes are those benefiting from the current system.
“This is happening across Australia in a lot of indigenous communities… if you go out there to Gerard now it’s absolutely sad.”
Mr Lindsay said current Gerard Council directors have until Monday, December 7, to respond to the proposed resolutions.
“There’s been a lot of money that’s been given to Gerard over the last 20 years or so, in regard to grants meant to benefit the community,” he said.
“The community has not benefited from any grant given to Gerard in the last 20 years… and my question is where is the money going?
“There’s no receipts or documents and it’s just a dodgy setup.”
Representatives of the Gerard Council declined to comment on the situation when contacted by the Murray Pioneer.