MPARNTWE presenters

Michael Klerck and Vanessa Napaltjari Davis have worked in partnership for many years through the Tangentyere Council Research Division, focusing on the critical intersections of housing, health, energy insecurity, and essential services in Mparntwe’s Town Camps.

Their deep expertise and trusted relationships within the Mparntwe community stem from decades of respectful, on-the-ground work—producing influential research the right way, that drives change and challenges systems.

In this session, Michael and Vanessa will share insights drawn from a long-running body of research, R&D projects, and their collaboration with the University of Newcastle’s Architecture School Tangentyere Elective.

They’ll unpack the lived complexities of Town Camp and remote NT public housing—with a sharp focus on thermal comfort, energy insecurity, housing design inadequacies, energy ratings, construction standards, maintenance systems, and the policy frameworks that shape them.

VANESSA NAPALTJARI DAVIS
Mparntwe (Alice Springs)

Vanessa Napaltjari Davis is an Arrernte woman from Mparntwe and a senior researcher at the Tangentyere Council Research Hub. She has over 20 years of experience in social research, evaluation, and data collection and analysis. As an Aboriginal cultural broker and researcher, she brings deep language skills, cultural knowledge, and on-the-ground expertise to conduct respectful, community-led research in Aboriginal communities.

Vanessa advocates for doing research the right way—valuing time, place, culture, and true partnership. She champions the role of Aboriginal researchers in ensuring communities are heard, have a way to voice their concerns, are empowered, and able to act on shared concerns and fight for what they believe is true.

With strong cultural roots, earned trust, respect and authorisation, Vanessa’s priority is to gather and use knowledge that supports better housing, health, education, and employment outcomes for Aboriginal people.

MICHAEL KLERCK
Mparntwe (Alice Springs)

Michael Klerck is Senior Policy Officer at Aboriginal Housing NT (AHNT), the peak body for Aboriginal community housing in the Northern Territory. With a long background in social policy and research at Tangentyere Council, Michael has worked closely with Arrernte researchers and communities to produce groundbreaking, seminal research and R&D projects, including playing a key role in the University of Newcastle Architecture school's Tangentyere elective.

His work seeks to make the invisible more visible with work focusing on the intersection of housing, health, and climate and the reality of remote community living —championing efforts to close the knowledge gap around inadequate thermal comfort, energy insecurity, essential services and most critically, Closing the Gap Target 9B, in remote Aboriginal communities.  

EVENT INFO

MPARNTWE (Alice Springs)

DATES September 11-13 2025

LOCATION Mparntwe (Alice Springs) & Tjoritja (West MacDonnell National park)

CPD 10 formal points available across the event