A fortnight ago, First Nations peoples around the country were stumped by the sheer gall of the decision by current Australian prime minister Scott Morrison to appoint Tony Abbott as a “special envoy” to his office on Indigenous affairs. Roundly interpreted by blackfellas as a clear indication of the new PM’s predisposition to paternalism, the controversy over Abbott’s appointment has reoriented – at least within Aboriginal community organisations – to concerns over the continuity of Morrison’s administration with former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull’s readiness to listen in the months leading up to the 24 August leadership spill.

Towards the end of his go in the big chair, Turnbull appeared to recover an appreciation for Aboriginal self-determination. Compare his October 2017 intransigence in regards to a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice to parliament to the nature of rhetoric surrounding his visit to Tennant Creek in July of this year.

The former PM’s frank rejection of the first call within the Statement from the Heart was unexpectedly transformed 10-months later into a compassionate listening tour of the Northern Territory. And in “Tennant”, as Turnbull familiarly referred to the town, he is said to have actually deferred to the guidance of Aboriginal community workers on the frontline. In response, a new approach – the Regional Deal – was formulated to more effectively address the crisis of social harm gripping the town.

Community workers described the town as being genuinely buoyed by Turnbull’s visit. The deal, which is effectively a modified version of the kinds of multi-million dollar City Deals currently in place in Townsville, Launceston and western Sydney, is a program intended to tackle employment, housing and social issues by way of bringing three levels of government – local, state/territory, and federal – together to work in concert to “unlock economic potential” in the region.

One potential benefit of the Regional Deal for sites like Tennant Creek could be adequate and ongoing financial support for essential community services. This would likely result in maintaining the after-dark youth patrol, and the establishment of properly resourced shelters for vulnerable women and children.

In his first media address as the prime minister-elect, Morrison stressed the importance of unity and stability to his party. Never mind the bedlam of the spill. It was merely a hiccup. Government would be proceeding as usual. The transition between the old leader and the new was going to be seamless. Even as recently as Tuesday, he was telling parliament he “didn’t come to the leadership seeking to change it”.

On the Tuesday after the spill, Barkly Regional Council mayor Steve Edgington was quick to reassure an apprehensive Tennant Creek constituency that the deal was still on. The chief minister of the NT was still committed, and the minister for Indigenous affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion – fondly referred to by Aboriginal locals as the “Leather Emu” – was one of the region’s biggest supporters, said Edgington: “There is no reason that I’m aware of to suggest it will not be going ahead.”

Then Tony Abbott accepted the new prime minister’s job offer to provide specialist counsel in regards to Indigenous affairs. There’s no word yet from the mayor about that appointment, but Aboriginal community organisations in town recall how essential local programs were snuffed out in the wake of senseless cuts to the Indigenous affairs portfolio in the Abbott government’s 2014 budget.

One defunded initiative was the Homemakers program. It provided basic appliances and home skills to Aboriginal residents experiencing hardship. While the provision of both of those things was important, the program also inadvertently enabled Aboriginal community workers to assess living and social conditions in these homes. When the funding vanished, the program folded and the opportunity to monitor the well-being of at-risk women and kids was lost.

Since 2014, new alcohol consumption laws have been applied to areas of the town which has resulted in more drinking behind closed doors, often in the same kinds of homes that initiatives like the Homemakers program accessed. These concealed settings are now the sites of the most shocking abuses happening in the town. Community workers say it has been next to impossible for them to make the early assessments that could protect abused women and children.

The concern among these local Aboriginal community organisations is that Abbott and Morrison are demonstrably incapable of listening. That their arrogant paternalism – forged from their ignorance of Aboriginal communities – will frustrate and ultimately obstruct the implementation of effective, community-defined strategies. That measures such as the cashless welfare card will instead be imposed indiscriminately upon them, which will only serve to further entrench the crisis of social harm.

The situation in Tennant Creek is a microcosm of the challenges facing hundreds of Aboriginal community organisations across Australia. Past decisions attributable to the leadership of the prime minister’s special envoy on Indigenous affairs has impaired entire communities. Since 2014, despite the absence of adequate support, many essential community services have struggled on determinedly. Now, we could be back to square one.