CLC DELEGATES – REGION 4
Tanami
Belinda Waynes
Details coming.
Derek Williams
Mr Williams is a senior constable with the NT Police, where he has worked since 2006. He is also a cultural advisor for the Red Dust Role Models program.
He chairs the Yuendumu school council and the NT Police Indigenous Association.
Mr Williams chairs the Granites Mine Affected Area Aboriginal Corporation and is a member of his community’s GMAAAC committee.
Previously he comanaged a petrol-sniffing project in Papunya for the MacDonnell Regional Council and was a secondary school teacher.
He wants to listen to the different needs of young and old people. “I want to start a new football and softball competition, something for the young people.”
CLC pioneer Harry Nelson and his father Warren Williams are his inspiration.
Mr Williams has a diploma in music from the Charles Darwin University and plays guitar with the Tjupi Band. He also plays with the Yuendumu Magpies football team.
VM
VM is an accredited interpreter with many other roles: deputy chair of Pintupi Anmatyerr Warlpiri Media, director of the Kurra and the Yapa Kurlangu Ngurrara Aboriginal corporations and a former member of Yuendumu’s Granites Mine Affected Areas Aboriginal Corporation committee.
She was the deputy chair of the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority from 2016 -2024 and is a current board member. She is also a member of the National Indigenous Australians Agency’s Aboriginal leadership group.
“I wear a few hats. I love working with my people and to know what’s ahead of them, especially the young people. I go and visit them in juvenile centres.”
VM has been a CLC delegate in the past and wants to mentor new delegates. She plans to pursue justice reform through the council because recent events have shown that “in the end we don’t get justice”.
“I want younger people to realise what is happening around town, change their behaviour and follow in our footsteps, take responsibility.”
Warren Williams
Chair of the CLC, deputy president of the Central Desert Regional Council, former chair of the Warlpiri Youth Development and Yapa Kurlangu Ngurrara Aboriginal corporations, the Southern Tanami Kurdiji Mediation team and Yuendumu’s local authority. Mr Williams is a former assistant principal at the Yuendumu school and wants to advocate for community harmony and young people.
“We get them out to Mount Theo [outstation] where they learn their culture,” he said. “We’ve been asking for a school there for a very long time because they also need to learn to read and write.”
Peggy Granites
Ms Granites is a traditional owner for Dead Bullock Soak and paints at Warlukurlangu, the Yuendumu arts centre.
She is a director of the Kurra Aboriginal Corporation and a member of the Granites Mine Affected Area Aboriginal Corporation committee for Tanami Downs.
She wants to represent families “because some of them don’t talk up”.
“I feel proud of supporting the young generation, especially young ladies. I am teaching them about the importance of their traditional land because these days everyone is crossing country.
I encourage people about the Lord who has given us this land and I really want to support it. It is in my heart.”
Vacant
Details coming.
Vacant
Details coming.
Vacant
Details coming.
Vacant
Details coming.
Patrick Williams
Mr Williams is following in the footsteps of his aunty, Valerie James from Lajamanu, and prior to his election attended council meetings as a proxy.
“I want to be a community leader, speaking up for Nyirrpi, for dialysis services and fencing in and around the community because of dogs.”
He works at the Nyirrpi store and is on the store’s board.
He also led a work-for-the-dole program team at the Central Desert Regional Council, cutting firewood and welding.
Mr Williams is a member of Nyirrpi’s Granites Mine Affected Area Aboriginal Corporation committee.
A member of the Nyirrpi Demons, he takes pride in supporting young footy players and bringing them to games.