PM+D Architects

27/12/2024

The time of Christmas and New Year is special in terms of providing opportunities for reflection, sharing, gathering of family and friends and promoting peace, love and hope.
Margaret and I wish all friends and family an amazing, healthy and enjoyable season and look forward to a new year during which some of the local burning community challenges of: improved housing for all, reduction in poverty, alleviation of homelessness (especially women with children), closing the disadvantage gaps experienced by First Nations people and reducing environmental pollution (in the Air, Soils, Seas, Ground Water) and the over exploitation of fish and forests, are significantly advanced.

31/12/2023

So goodbye 2023. A challenging year. So here’s wishing for a new year full of love, joy, peace, serenity, laughter, adventure and some fulfillment.

04/10/2023

Considering the Referendum.
Here is a unique opportunity for every Australian to make a difference and contribute to a new pathway that has the potential to improve a wide range of outcomes for Aboriginal people. In the past there have been countless short term interventions that have barely achieved any of the objectives set.
A YES vote is touched with optimism to rectify this current scenario.

A no vote implies that the current system is OK! BUT it smashes down a heartfelt plea for a new way. What message are we wanting to send? We all know if our requests or views are not considered then we get pi**ed off and angry, which if sustained can lead to other actions, the consequences of which can be serious for all concerned.
A no vote is for pessimism.

It’s a YES from us!

01/06/2023

This is an article which outlines the lack of long term cyclical Repairs and Maintenance programs and the chronic lack of appropriate housing issues we have been on about for the last 10 years, and especially since the conclusion of NPARIH.

The critical issue of Aboriginal housing puts into sharp focus why a Voice to Parliament may help elevate the case for urgent action.

04/02/2022

Friends after years of Obfuscation and Neglect around the provision of appropriate Housing to deal with the health, safety, education and employment consequences of crisis levels of crowding, a first step forward has been secured for First Nations people in the NT and hopefully more widely. This is an example of where, if housing was considered to be Essential Community Infrastructure, significant investments by all levels of Government could make a huge contribution. BUT we need to make sure that when a capital investment is made there is the commensurate investment in Maintenance and services. The announcement below is from GRATA.
After a six year legal battle, the NT’s highest court ordered the NT government to provide First Nations people living in remote communities with somewhere decent to live.
This is a huge victory for the Eastern Arrernte People of Santa Teresa, who have spent years fighting for housing they can actually live in. And it’s testimony to what the Grata community can achieve when we work together to support people to defend their rights in court.
People in Santa Teresa, about 80km south of Alice Springs, had been failed by their landlord, the NT government. Their badly maintained homes were overcrowded and many people were left without electricity, hot water, cooking facilities or functioning toilets for weeks, months and even years at a time.
Six years ago they banded together and took the government to court - supported by Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights and the Grata community. Each step of the way, the courts sided with the residents - and set a bunch of really important precedents that will bring major benefits to other remote communities across the Territory.
At the first stage, the court ordered the government to provide the people of Santa Teresa with ‘habitable’ homes. The court said ‘habitable’ only meant ‘safe’ - but the community knew they deserved better and kept fighting.
That paid off, because the judge at the NT Supreme Court agreed. She ordered the NT government to provide the residents with housing that is not only safe but ‘reasonably comfortable’ when judged against contemporary standards - a much stronger standard.
The government appealed to try and evade their responsibility to provide habitable housing, but once again the court sided with the residents. The Court of Appeal ordered the NT government to provide the people of Santa Teresa with homes they can actually live in.
It’s a huge relief for everyone living in Santa Teresa - and should bring benefits to First Nations People all over the Territory. Up to 75 other remote communities across the Territory are entitled to the same legal protection.
And there’s no time to wait. The current Covid outbreak in remote communities is reminding us once again that overcrowding threatens lives. The onus is now on Chief Minister Gunner to work with Aboriginal peaks to implement community-led solutions to the housing crisis.
This is the sort of case Grata was set up to support. Bold, courageous people demanding justice - and getting it, transforming their own lives and the lives of others. But it doesn’t stop here - later this month, we'll be back in court supporting the Laramba community to fight for their right to safe drinking water, free of uranium.
Want to continue to support powerful game-changing litigation? Become a Justice Defender today by making a monthly donation at www.gratafund.org.au/justice_defender
Grata Fund
People Powered Justice

Grata Fund empowers Australians to create extraordinary change by removing the financial barriers to court and by integrating legal cases with strategic movement-driven campaigns on the issues of human rights, democracy, and climate change.

14/01/2021

Help us to Change the National Building Code to make housing accessible for all Australians. Please sign the Building Better Homes Campaign petition
Right now, nearly three quarters of Australians with mobility impairment live in housing which does not meet their needs.

Many people with disability say poor housing design means they cannot visit friends and family.

In some cases, housing quality is so low that people are unable to leave the house at all.

Australia’s lack of accessible housing is also forcing many older Australians into residential care, when the majority of Australians seniors would rather age at home.

This needs to change - it’s time to make housing accessible for all Australians.

The Building Better Homes Campaign is a coalition of disability and seniors organisations working to change the National Building Code to make accessibility standards mandatory for all new residential homes.

Twenty-five national organisations have already joined.

This will change the life of hundreds of thousands of Australians who are currently limited in their day-to-day activities simply because their housing doesn’t meet their needs.

We know the campaign will be strongly opposed by many vested interests across the building industry - that’s why we need your help to win this campaign.

We need your help to seek State and Federal Building Ministers to make accessibility standards mandatory for all new residential homes.

Please, sign and share this petition to show your support for people with disabilities, seniors, and those with mobility impairment.

Change the National Building Code to make housing accessible for all Australians

06/12/2020

We had news recently that a colleague and good friend, John Baillie, died in Adelaide.
John was a generous, hard working, thoughtful engineer who was committed to improving the living conditions and Infrastructure of people in remote Australia and the Pacific. He was also a believer in collaborative working methods as having the best potential for delivering; the required project objectives as well as added value outcomes that directly benefited the people and community in which the project was to be delivered. A good friend whose smile, intellect, humour and football bent (even though we supported different teams!) will live with us as his legacy. See ya John!!!

04/12/2019

With a traditional period of giving and receiving we hope that our friends, colleagues, clients and associates experience; Joy, Friendship, Love, and Hope and that the spirit of this time permeate the whole year ahead through our interactions with others; our family, at work, in recreational pursuits, and our relationships. Peace and Good will from Geoff and Margaret Barker.

25/11/2019

I had the pleasure and privilege of attending and presenting at 2 conferences recently.
One key point on Housing Exclusion (otherwise called Homelessness - a term I no longer use because of the association with blaming the victim!) How is it we can sit vicariously by and allow people to be discriminated against; with the result many get sick from preventable infections and diseases and some die. Isn't it time we invested in Housing as a Nationally important sector of essential Infrastructure benefitting people, the economy and socio-cultural advancement.
Housing is more than bricks and iron.
Housing is life and home.

23/09/2019

Isn't it time Housing was considered "essential infrastructure". With various governments espousing their focus is on "creating jobs" consider this. The housing sector is the single largest gross employer when taking into account primary level construction AND the secondary and tertiary level services and suppliers. If we had the intestinal fortitude to invest in Social, Community and Public housing construction and support services then see the economic and more importantly the socio-cultural benefits, such as reducing the incidence of homelessness, reducing incidence of health presentations and reducing the rising mental health crisis. Of particular interest is seeing a significant investment in housing with Indigenous people.

30/08/2019

An informative Conference in Darwin with some inspiring and optimistic presentations. Great to catch up with friends colleagues and like minded attendees. Strong support for a regeneration of Housing for Health. How long has that taken?!!! I hope sustaining peoples right to safe, health supporting, appropriate and secure homes becomes a bipartisan long term objective.