NT remote Indigenous bus service reduces routes after funding cut

Essential bus service operating between remote communities and Alice Springs faces funding cuts In short: A bus service transporting passengers between remote communities and Alice Springs says NT government funding cuts could force them to halt five of their routes. Local organisations say the service is critical and the loss of it could leave remote residents stuck in Alice Springs, staying in overcrowded homes. The NT government says the service missed out on funding because its costs were not comparative with other services in the Territory. Aboriginal people will be stranded in Alice Springs and forced to stay off country in overcrowded housing unless funding for a remote bus service is reinstated by the NT Government, according to local organisations. Centre Bush Bus has been transporting people, critical medical supplies and goods to remote Indigenous communities from Alice Springs for three decades. Earlier this week the organisation's owners said a funding cut at the end of February had forced the reduction of services on five routes across Central Australia, from two trips a week to just one. Centre Bush Bus user Marlene Nampijinpa Spencer, who is from Kintore — a 10.5 hour drive from Alice Springs — said while her route had not been cut, a reduction in the service for any remote community would be devastating. Ms Spencer is the chair of remote dialysis service Purple House and said she witnesses the necessity of remote transport on a daily basis. "Old people with renal [needs]… people want to go to funerals in communities, they don't want to get stuck here, lonely," she said. "We want and need that bus, so people can jump in, and go to their community." The affected routes include Santa Teresa, Atitjere-Engawala, Willowra, Hermannsberg-Areyonga and Titjikala-Finke, and Centre Bush Bus owner Tahnee Passmore-Barns said all of those routes were at risk of being cancelled altogether unless they received support. Ms Passmore-Barns said since their funding stopped, they had been operating at a loss and had been trying to work behind the scenes to get it reinstated before going to the media this week. "We just can't run at a loss … It's something that is quite heartbreaking for us because we have close relationships with all our communities and all our passengers," she said. Recipe for 'absolute catastrophe' Local Aboriginal organisations and politicians have united in their calls for the service's funding to continue, citing health, safety and overcrowding concerns. The chief executive of remote Aboriginal dialysis provider Purple House Sarah Brown said it made "no sense" to cut services. "It would be an absolute catastrophe if the Northern Territory government lets down Bush Bus," she said. "If there's only one Bush Bus a week, it means they're stuck in Alice Springs. "We know that for a lot of people, they've already got more family members than the house can maintain. "People being stuck in town in inadequate housing puts a severe pressure on that family group and their relationships." Central Land Council chief executive Les Turner said the government had a duty to ensure people in remote places had transport options and described any funding cut as "short sighted". "Our concern is that this is a vital arterial route for people in remote areas to access services and the service is important, which should be available to all citizens in the Northern Territory," he said. Too expensive to run Infrastructure Minister Bill Yan, whose electorate of Namatjira covers many of the impacted bus routes, said the service missed out on funding in 2025-26 because "they didn't meet the criteria" and "costs were not comparative with services provided in other regions" in the NT. "The total budget for the Remote Transport Program in 2026-27 is $3.132 million, increased by $67,000 from the 2025-26 budget of $3.065 million to offset fuel and wages increases," Mr Yan said in a statement. "We did provide a one-off time limited grant of $667,000 between October 1 and February 28 to Centre Bush Bus on five specific runs with twice weekly services for support over the summer period. "Based on these figures, if a decision was made to extend the grant funding to 12 months, it would have cost $1.6m to service nine communities. "This would leave around half the budget to service the other 50 communities across the Territory." He said the funding was not designed as ongoing and the service could reapply for the grant program. However, Centre Bush Bus is the only scheduled transport and freight service running on regular timetables to some communities. The government has not confirmed whether any other bus companies were successful in securing a grant to cover these routes. Labor member for the remote electorate of Gwoja Chansey Paech said this was "an absolutely pathetic excuse". "The government heavily subsidises public transport in Darwin and Alice Springs, so why should people living in remote communities be treated any differently," he said. Ms Passmore-Barns said increased diesel prices, long travel distances and staffing were all part of the cost of the service. No communication Ms Passmore-Barns said information in Mr Yan's statement about the service's cost effectiveness and having not met the criteria was new to her. "The criteria over the last 10 or 20 years was pretty much the same, we've done dozens of applications and they've all been successful so I was actually very surprised … to be told it was not accepted was quite a shock," she said. "Then to try and get feedback and not get any doesn't help." She said the service was providing value for money. "The only reason you would need funding is for those smaller communities who don't have the population to make the services sustainable," she said. "The government even call our services essential services on their list of services in the Territory, but it doesn't look like they're essential services so much anymore." Amid the back and forth, Marlene Spencer just hopes the services remain the same, so people can get to and from community for their health. "Why are they talking about Bush Bus stopping? We want and need that important Bush Bus," she said.