Tikkun olam in the outback

Former prime minister Tony Abbott last week worked alongside Yolŋu community members in the Bawaka Homeland in north-east Arnhem Land as part of a water resilience project delivered in partnership with the Nova Peris Foundation and IsraAID Australia.

Abbott arrived in Bawaka on Monday, July 27, at the invitation of the Yolŋu community, the Nova Peris Foundation and IsraAID Australia to take part in the Bawaka Water Resilience Project, which aims to improve access to safe drinking water and strengthen long-term resilience in one of Australia’s most remote Aboriginal homelands.

The project will replace and modernise a bore water system that has minimally served the community since 1983 and will train local residents to operate and maintain the new infrastructure.

Community leader Timmy Djawa Burarrwanga described the project as “my legacy for our children and grandchildren”.

Former senator Nova Peris, Australia’s first Aboriginal woman elected to federal Parliament and founder of the Nova Peris Foundation, said the project was “beyond politics”.

“This is about people. Every Australian deserves access to safe drinking water and the essential infrastructure that allows communities to thrive,” she said.

“Through charity, compassion and the human spirit, we can work together to create lasting change. This project shows what is possible when Aboriginal leadership, humanitarian expertise and people of goodwill unite with a shared purpose.

“Together, we are not simply delivering clean water – we are building hope, resilience and opportunity for future generations.”

IsraAID, founded in Israel in 2001, has responded to more than 115 emergencies in over 65 countries, and its emergency team is currently in Venezuela following two earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude. The Bawaka project is IsraAID’s first humanitarian project in Australia, bringing almost 25 years of international humanitarian expertise to support Aboriginal communities through locally led, sustainable development.

IsraAID Australia managing director Yossi Eshed said the organisation’s mission was to support communities living through crisis “wherever we are needed”.

“We are proud to partner with the Yolŋu community of Bawaka and the Nova Peris Foundation to deliver this transformative project and we are delighted to have former prime minister Tony Abbott’s support,” he said. “As an apolitical, humanitarian organisation, we welcome the opportunity to put the spotlight on this strong, resilient community and demonstrate the power we can all have when we work together to make change.”

The Nova Peris Foundation said it hoped to establish similar water resilience projects in Aboriginal communities across Australia as the partnership grows.