Water contamination is a key driver of negative health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in remote communities, resulting in reduced life expectancy in addition to broader social disadvantage.68
For example, Australia is the only developed nation in the world to have endemic trachoma, the leading preventable cause of blindness. The impacts are seen in many Rural Communities and Remote Areas in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. Yet functioning water services and making soap available can prevent these infections.69
State and territory municipal services departments must make a genuine commitment to deliver fit-for-purpose, fit-for-place and fit-for-people water services to Australians living in remote and isolated communities. These must be delivered through approaches that recognise and respond to conditions in these parts of the country as distinct from other places.
Delivering against this commitment should be aligned to Infrastructure Australia's place-based approach to creating vibrant and sustainable communities, as discussed in the Place-based outcomes for communities chapter of the 2021 Plan.