The Spinifex People, from Western Australia’s desert country of the Nullarbor, are known for their resilience. After years of displacement following nuclear weapons testing, they returned to the Great Victoria Desert and built a community. But extreme weather events and rising costs, they’re calling on all tiers of government for support.
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00:00It's hard to imagine this outback road in flood, but Spinifex elder Leonard Walker spent
00:09four days here last year, bogged on his way home to Junjunjara.
00:14Be afraid, really be afraid.
00:19His party was rescued by helicopter, but the floods closed roads and delayed services for
00:24months.
00:25Junjunjara was founded by Spinifex elders, desperate to return to country after nuclear
00:30weapons testing forced people from their land.
00:34Junjunjara, here, and it's closer, you know home where they grew up, there's a coolant
00:42shop, there's a room.
00:4425 years ago, Spinifex became the first people in WA to have their native title recognised,
00:51but the daily challenges remain.
00:53Got the shower block, toilet block, and the kitchen sink block.
00:57Plumbing services were requested weeks ago.
01:00The WA Department of Communities is still arranging for one to visit.
01:05And there's concerned extreme weather will add to a growing list of repairs.
01:09You've got to wait for months and months because of this road.
01:14Although the road's finally dried out, travelling along it is still really difficult.
01:18It's entirely dirt, takes about 10 hours to get to Kalgoorlie, and there's no place to
01:23stop along the way.
01:25The town's only other access road brings food from South Australia.
01:30Last year it bogged five vehicles in a day, prompting fears delivery trucks might refuse
01:35to visit.
01:36It slows you down to five kilometres an hour and does an extraordinary amount of damage.
01:40The WA government has committed six million dollars to improve the roads.
01:44But even when food deliveries can get through, it's very expensive.
01:48Two deer going up, they should drop them down, you know.
01:52The Federal Labor Party has promised to subsidise 30 products in remote communities from July.
01:58The Coalition says, if elected, its plan to halve the fuel excise and reduce energy costs
02:04will help this community.
02:06Despite the challenges, locals love living in Junjunjara.
02:10It's a big deal.
02:14But without extra government support, many fear lives will only get more difficult.
02:21It certainly will.
02:23People are not saying they're ever going to leave, it's their country and their place.
02:26But it's a perplexing question.
02:27A remote bid to ease the challenge of living in Australia's largest desert.