Hundreds of evacuees from remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory have been housed behind temporary fences and denied visitors after being forced to evacuate their homes in the most vicious wet season on record.
In March, the Daly River in the NT reached a record peak of 23.93 metres, forcing families from Palumpa and Nauiyu to flee for the second time in four weeks.
As the scale of the damage became clear, the NT government moved families from an evacuation shelter in Darwin to student accommodation and temporary dongas at the Batchelor Institute, about 100km south.
But many evacuees say it has felt like detention.
“What they’re doing to us, it’s like a prison camp,” said Nauiyu traditional owner James Parry.
He said that at night guards shine their torches into the window of his room, checking if people are sleeping.
“You don’t do that to people.”
Residents must sign in and out at a security gate, and vehicles and bags are routinely searched.
“Women’s bags are checked by men when they come back from the shops,” he said. “Every car that comes in and comes out, they stop and search … that’s not a home.
“This is because we are Aboriginal people … I just want my freedom.”
The once idyllic education setting on the edge of Litchfield national park is now surrounded by a 10-foot temporary ringlock fence, erected after the evacuees moved in. Children run along the fence line while families wait anxiously for news to return home.
In March, when people were relocated, the Department of Children and Families chief executive, Brent Warren, said the institute would provide a “more stable, comfortable and culturally appropriate environment, with access to essential services and the ability for families to live more independently while they recover”.
Several Aboriginal organisations, including the Northern Land Council (NLC), Danila Dilba Health Service and the Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), have been excluded from the emergency response and blocked from entering the evacuation centres without permission.
The federal minister for Indigenous Australians and Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy was also prevented from entering an evacuation site at Batchelor shortly after residents were relocated.
McCarthy’s office did not directly address the restriction but instead confirmed she had been able to visit affected communities. She described the situation as “a deeply distressing time for families impacted … with a long road ahead to recovery”.
The Northern Land Council chair, Matthew Ryan, said he was also refused entry when attempting to meet with traditional owners and was told future access would require 24 hours’ notice and ministerial approval.
In letters seen by Guardian Australia, Ryan asked the chief minister why he was denied access to the evacuation shelter and would need ministerial approval to enter in future. He did not receive a response.
“It is disappointing and appalling behaviour,” he said. “Traditional owners wanted to see me and speak to me … but we were refused entry.”
Ryan said security acted like “pork chops” and treated his people with “total disregard” by restricting access to services, family and community leaders. He also raised concerns that flood payments for evacuees from remote communities had been quarantined.
Warren said the emergency payments were restricted for “remote residents … so families can replenish fridge and pantry items that would have spoiled while they were away from home”.
Residents from the evacuated communities are also still being charged rent, despite the NT government saying in March that it would freeze rent payments.
The Aboriginal Housing NT CEO, Leeanne Caton, said evacuees were told they would have payments deducted to cover rent arrears. Regular rent payments are also being taken and applied as credit to their accounts, the organisation was told at a meeting in March.
“Rent payments are continuing to be deducted from residents without individual consent or choice,” Caton said.
“Where residents have existing rental arrears, ongoing rent payments will be applied towards those arrears.”
In April, the NT chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro, and the NT administrator, David Connolly, visited one of the communities, Nauiyu. Images were later posted on social media before many evacuees had seen their own homes.
The Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency CEO, Ben Grimes, said he did not believe non-Aboriginal Australians displaced by a flood would be treated in the same way.
Asked about restrictions on visitation, an NT government spokesperson said evacuation centres were controlled environments designed to protect residents’ safety, privacy and wellbeing.
“These are not public facilities,” the spokesperson said. They added that relevant service providers had access and that the return of residents was being “carefully staged”.
Returning to damaged homes
The Palumpa and Nauiyu communities have been evacuated due to floods four times in the past decade.
On Sunday, nearly half of the residents were suddenly returned to Palumpa despite a boil water alert and 19 of the community’s 50 houses remaining uninhabitable. The community has no power, no store to buy food, and damaged road access. On Monday, residents were told that if they did not agree to leave by Friday they would have to make the 300km journey on their own.
Several residents told Guardian Australia they were worried about returning but have felt like they have been living in detention at the state-controlled evacuation centres for the past seven weeks.
Barak Sambono said Palumpa has lost everything but the treatment of his community in the evacuation centre has compounded people’s trauma.
“We are just monkeys in a cage to them,” he said. “This evacuation… It’s the biggest nightmare I ever had.”
Electricity in Palumpa relies on prepaid power cards, meaning families need access to a device, internet and funds to keep power connected, including for basic needs such as boiling water.
The NT government said in a letter to evacuees, seen by Guardian Australia, that power will not be disconnected but residents will go into debt, which will be recovered at a later stage.
Access to food remains limited, with residents relying on deliveries of dry goods. Concerns have been raised about the lack of refrigeration and the ability to safely store food.
The local clinic has been heavily damaged and remains closed. A temporary “health hub” has been set up in a residential building to provide basic care, with more serious cases transferred to Darwin. Nurses are working 24-hour fly-in, fly-out shifts with limited resources on the ground.
School is for three hours a day, running as an “activities-based program” out of a tin house and outdoor gazebos, despite temperatures exceeding 35C.
Asked whether NT Health supported the repatriation process, a spokesperson said the department was working closely with the emergency operations centre and other agencies “to monitor the situation and assess health risks”.
