{"id":62229,"date":"2022-08-23T12:54:49","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T02:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arr.news\/?p=62229"},"modified":"2022-08-23T17:43:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T07:43:36","slug":"urgent-action-needed-now-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arr.news\/2022\/08\/23\/urgent-action-needed-now-mayor\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent action needed now: mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Samuel Davis<\/strong>, Cape York Weekly<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape York mayor Patricia Yusia doesn\u2019t want to talk about the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Not while a desperate housing crisis is crippling her communities in the Northern Peninsula Area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when Cr Yusia met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Horn Island last Thursday, the discussion was to the point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"At
At the Horn Island jetty last Thursday \u2013 Senator Nita Green, TSIRC mayor Philemon Mosby, Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney, Torres Shire mayor Yen Loban, NPARC mayor Patricia Yusia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and TSRA chairman Pedro Stephen.
Photo: Cape York Weekly<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will never overcome health and education issues until we address overcrowding,\u201d she said. \u201cWe think the Voice is important but the NPA is still very concerned about overcrowding issues we have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council estimates it needs around 160 more houses to meet demand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd they will be filled straight away,\u201d Cr Yusia said. \u201cGrown up children are living with their parents and their children\u2019s children are living there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As many as a dozen people are living in three-bedroom homes, sleeping mattress-to-mattress on living room floors, Cr Yusia said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Prime Minister was a hit with Tagai State College students on T.I.
Photo: Cape York Weekly<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe still have three-to-four families living under the one roof,\u201d she told Cape York Weekly<\/em>. \u201cHow can you get to sleep at the right time when other families are running around? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow are we going to Close the Gap? It won\u2019t happen with the way we are living now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cr Yusia also met with Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney on Horn Island and invited the Minister to visit the NPA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“She did say she’s going to come,” the mayor said <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m going to hold her to her word. I said, ‘You need to see your people’. We need support.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPARC was the only Cape York council invited to meet with the PM during his two-day visit to the Torres Strait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Torres and Cape Indigenous Councils Alliance chair Robbie Sands said the Voice would help in the future but urgent action was needed now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say to the Prime Minister, keep going ahead with the referendum but at the same time put some programs in place to work towards achieving equity,\u201d the Kowanyama mayor said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all see the Voice as an important stepping stone for Indigenous people in Australia but there also have to be practical steps towards reconciliation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt should be equity based and about access to health services, housing and jobs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Cape<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This article appeared in Cape York Weekly<\/em>, 23 August 2022<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samuel Davis. Cape York mayor Patricia Yusia doesn\u2019t want to talk about the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Not while a desperate housing crisis is crippling her communities in the Northern Peninsula Area. So, when Cr Yusia met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Horn Island last Thursday, the discussion was to the point. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191038096,"featured_media":62240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Urgent action needed now: mayor I Australian Rural & Regional News","_seopress_titles_desc":"Cape York mayor Patricia Yusia doesn\u2019t want to talk about the Indigenous Voice to parliament. Not while a desperate housing crisis is crippling her communities in the Northern Peninsula Area. ","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[703273108,703274187,703273110,703273111,278,103,703273990,36526],"tags":[703279171,703273728,703272978,703279791,703281131,703273041,703273604,703281129,703281130,703281128],"position":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/A91u3zpij_ua2hqg_10k.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcBp7h-gbH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191038096"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62229"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62258,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62229\/revisions\/62258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62229"},{"taxonomy":"position","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arr.news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/position?post=62229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}