Six Jobs at Pirlangimpi

Challenge

Munupi Aboriginal Corporation was created in 2013 by Munupi landowning families on Melville Island to take direct control of economic development on their country.

Pirlangimpi sits on the far side of the Tiwi Islands. Any travel to and from community is a daily challenge. Residents need transport to the supermarket, the ferry, the airport and the barge, and older residents need it to reach health appointments. Visiting service providers had no way to move around once they arrived. Minor repairs to community facilities turned into protracted jobs because nobody local was resourced to do them. Meanwhile the corporation was carrying a growing administrative load with no administrative staff.

Every one of those gaps described a job. None of them could exist without the equipment to do it.

Approach

We worked with Munupi to turn that into six costed positions, and to make the case that the positions and the assets were a single proposition rather than a wish list attached to a wage bill.

Role	Number	Training
Administrative assistant	2	Certificate II in Workplace Skills, Charles Darwin University
Driver	2	Accredited 4WD training, Darwin
Maintenance worker	2	On the job, with director mentoring

Each role was specified against the relevant award and classification level, with progression built in across the funding term, weekend coverage for drivers to meet Saturday flights and ferries, and public holiday provision for maintenance workers so storm and wet season damage could be cleared when it happened.

The asset case was argued item by item: a vehicle and a cyclone-rated shed to house it, a recovery kit and phones because a breakdown on Melville Island is a safety event rather than an inconvenience, mower and tools for the maintenance crew, laptops and desks for the administrators. Every item was quoted and given a useful life.

Outcomes

Funding was approved in July 2026 across three years, covering both the positions and the equipment that makes them possible. Recruitment targets local people, many of whom have experienced long term unemployment, with directors of the corporation mentoring participants and training built into every role.

The jobs were also designed to outlast the funding. Both the driver and maintenance roles carry fee-for-service potential with the providers who work in the community, which gives Munupi a route to sustaining them once the term ends.

Six jobs for Munupi people, doing work their community needs done.