The Wire

Henry Councillor, the newly elected President of the peak Indigenous health group NACCHO, is calling on Aboriginal communities to provide safety for outside service providers, after a teacher on Groote Eylandt was attacked with a machete at school. The incident took place last Thursday in the community of Umbakumba, about an hour’s drive from the white mining settlement of Alyangula. The Education Department’s Acting Regional Manager Peter Clarke has travelled to Groote Eylandt to meet the affected teachers and talk to the Umbakumba community council. The Education Union’s Alan Perrin says the problems on Groote Eylandt may reach beyond the classroom and into the environment.