Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

which has been put in place while those 102 houses have been built. What has been found as a result of that review is that, unlike the question from the shadow minister, we are able to deliver the housing numbers that we are committed to. We intend to deliver by 2013 750 new homes, 230 rebuilds and 2½ thousand refurbishments. Just compare that number of houses to what was built under the previous government. In 2005-06 under the previous government 51 houses were built. We have a major program underway and we intend to deliver on those targets. We have recognised that issues have arisen and challenges have arisen, which is why I have put in place this important review. The review has been conducted and made public, and the review has found that the program design that we have put in place is sound but that there has certainly been about a three-month delay in implementation, which of course I am very concerned about. Nevertheless, it makes it very clear that the program targets of 750 houses, 230 rebuilds and 2½ thousand refurbishments will be met.

I have been very concerned in particular about the findings of this review in relation to administrative costs. I know there has been a lot of public comment about this issue. We are now working to reduce those administrative costs from 11.4 per cent to eight per cent, and that will be done. I have also decided that the Commonwealth will take a much more hands-on approach. This is a very unusual step, which has never been done by the previous government, to make sure that we deliver on the targets that we have set. Work has now started on Groote Eylandt and it is about to start in Nguiu.

Most importantly, we have to recognise that the work is underway to refurbish houses and to rebuild houses that were previously not liveable. I am sure that the shadow minister has seen some of these houses, with kitchens that families could not cook in and bathrooms that children could not be bathed in. In Tennant Creek, for example, we have got many people working on these houses making sure that families will have a decent place to live in. We are putting Commonwealth officials into this program in an unusual step to make sure that it does deliver on the targets that we know are so important for Aboriginal people.

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