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

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this issue in the House because if there is one thing I do agree with the member for Cook about it is that this whole issue of getting housing right is absolutely critical to closing the gap. That is why we are determined to make sure that we not only build more houses, rebuild houses and upgrade houses but also implement a major program of reform.

As I have made very clear in this House over the last few weeks, as part of this program, which is called SIHIP in the Northern Territory, and as part of the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, we are, with the Northern Territory government, determined to deliver on the commitments that we have made. We will see 750 new homes built, we will see 230 rebuilds of homes and, just as importantly, we will see 2,500 refurbishments of houses in remote parts of the Northern Territory. All of this is scheduled to be done by the end of 2013, which was the date for the original program.

As we roll out what is an unprecedented level of activity in the Northern Territory, I want to make it clear, as I have previously made clear in this House, that new houses have continued to be built: 102 houses have been constructed in the Northern Territory since December 2007 while we have been getting the new SIHIP underway. So 102 houses have been built over the period since the last election in remote parts of the Northern Territory. This compares to 94 houses built in remote parts of the Northern Territory in 2004-05, 51 houses in 2005-06 and 64 houses in 2006-07. They are the facts. We have been building, as these figures demonstrate, more than the previous government did in its last three years while simultaneously setting up a major new program which will double pre-existing construction outcomes in this area.

We do intend to deliver this with major reforms and it is true that it can be very tough going to deliver these major program reforms. Nevertheless, I am determined to make sure that we address the bottlenecks and to make sure that we get the program meeting its targets. That is why I sent a senior official from my department to work with her Northern Territory counterpart to forensically examine the program and report to me on the changes that needed to be made. She and her counterpart in the Northern Territory did an excellent piece of work for both governments and the review found that the SIHIP design is in fact sound. It also found that the program targets that have been set of 750 new homes, 230 rebuilds and 2,500 refurbishments can and will be met.

Like everyone concerned in this area, I have been wanting to make sure that we make better progress and the findings that this program has been delayed for around three months have been of particular concern to me. But the review that was done by senior officials of the SIHIP highlights that the previous Australian government housing program, called the National Aboriginal Health Strategy, actually took an average of 19 months from the initial visit to the community to the start of construction. I think this demonstrates that getting these very large programs underway does unfortunately take a considerable period of time.

The other area that I was particularly concerned about was the findings of the review that the governance of SIHIP was overly bureaucratic. I have already taken urgent action to address these concerns and to get the program back on track. We have already taken action to reduce the administrative costs of the program from 11.4 per cent to eight per cent. I have taken what is the very unusual step of insisting on a stronger and more hands-on role for the Australian government in the delivery of the program. This, too, was recommended by the review. We have put a very senior Commonwealth officer into the Northern Territory, and a senior officer will remain in the management team to make sure that the targets that we have set are delivered and that the housing program does what it is supposed to do. We are also going to take another unusual step and put Commonwealth officers into the three alliance teams.

Unlike what was said in the contribution earlier, work has in fact started, and did start in May, in Groote Eylandt, in Nguiu in the Tiwi Islands, and in Tennant Creek. In fact, on the Tiwi Islands some refurbishments have now been completed and work is continuing on the next lot of houses. On Groote Eylandt the first refurbishments have also been handed back, and work on the next 75 refurbishments, across Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island, is currently underway.

I have had a chance to see the work underway in Tennant Creek myself. I think there are eight currently occupied houses that are in the process of being rebuilt, and 78 homes will be substantially rebuilt over the next 18 months. Those will include houses that were previously uninhabitable. Just imagine what that actually means for the people concerned, in real, live activity in these houses: it means that we are going to have new kitchens in these houses so that families can cook healthy meals for their children, and new bathrooms, where their children can be bathed. These may not be things that are highlighted by the opposition, unfortunately, but they are very important to the health and wellbeing of the families concerned.

There will be 230 rebuilds and, together with the construction of 750 new homes in remote parts of the Northern Territory, that will add very significantly to the housing stock and make a significant impact on the terrible overcrowding that we found ourselves confronting when we came to government. Unfortunately, we have not heard any responsibility taken by those opposite for this terrible level of overcrowding. The program will also capitalise on the significant opportunities to completely rebuild and make functional houses that we have to acknowledge are currently unfit for occupation. These rebuilds—and I think this is an important thing for us all to focus on—will be able to be done at around half the cost of constructing a new home.

So we are delivering now. I acknowledge there has been a delay—a delay that has been very frustrating for everybody concerned—but I am pleased to say that work is now underway and we intend to increase the pace at which this work happens. Of course, to overcome many, many years of neglect—a very long period of neglect—we have had to not only make the commitment that we have made in the Northern Territory but increase the commitment to remote Indigenous housing right across the remote parts of Australia. The government has allocated $5.5 billion over the next 10 years.

This is an unprecedented level of investment, and one of the major reforms that we are insisting on is security of tenure, to protect the assets that this level of investment will produce and, just as importantly, to make sure that, over time, the ongoing repairs and maintenance are done. Secure tenure is central to our Indigenous housing policy. This should not be surprising. It underpins public and private housing markets right across the country. Just going into a community, building a house and then leaving the rest to fate has not worked and will not work.

In the past we have seen an absence of secure tenure, and we have seen millions of dollars poured into Indigenous housing, with abysmal results, because of a lack of responsibility for future repairs and maintenance, let alone a responsibility for collecting the rent. The facts are that in many cases these houses are now unlivable. Asset life spans were cut short and tenants were the losers. This is really why I am insisting on secure tenure, just as we do in the cities and towns. In those cities and towns, of course, mostly we require freehold. In these remote Indigenous communities, we are insisting on a lease agreement so it is very clear that governments have the legal right to go into a property to carry out repairs and maintenance, and also to make sure that the tenants have rights but also responsibilities.

Now in the Northern Territory we have long-term leases signed in the Tiwi Islands, Groote Eylandt, Tennant Creek in the town camps, Wadeye, Gunbalanya and Maningrida. The long-term lease in Galiwinku will be finalised very shortly, and I have just recently been advised that the traditional owners at Ngukurr have indicated their interest in signing a long-term lease. So we do now have many Aboriginal communities demonstrating their willingness to grant leases so we can not only build houses but make sure there is a long-term responsibility by governments to maintain those houses. In the Alice Springs town camps I am seeking to finalise 40-year leases. It is the case, I am sorry to say, that the previous government walked away from these town camps, claiming that a solution was important but too difficult. I am pleased to say that in the APY lands in South Australia we have signed 50-year leases and funds have now been allocated to make sure that housing can be built. We have got each of the other relevant state governments signing up to the necessity of secure tenure, to guarantee that that responsibility will be there for many years to come.

We have committed to these major reforms because we know just how important housing is if we are to close the gap. We want to not only build houses, rebuild houses and upgrade existing houses; we intend to deliver it with these major reforms, with the delivery of secure tenure and also with proper tenancy management to extend the life span of houses and to make sure that Indigenous tenants are guaranteed access to repairs and maintenance. We also intend to deliver opportunities for Indigenous people to get decent levels of employment. We have demonstrated our commitment to step in at an early stage to make sure that we get programs administered by the states and territories back on track. We are committed to meeting our targets, both in SIHIP and the national partnership on remote Indigenous housing. We are committed to making sure that the living standards of Indigenous people across Australia, especially in remote Australia, are progressively improved. We intend to do this, working with Indigenous people, because we are committed to closing the gap.

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