Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his answer and for attempting to answer the question. I do not think it is irrelevant. You are asking us to approve leases so that you can invest in housing quickly. That begs the question: are you investing in housing quickly? In terms of these bills, there is not a lot there, so the question is: where is it, what is it and how much is it? It is directly relevant to whether the parliament says you need the power. Quite frankly, if you were not investing in housing, we would not be giving you support for the bill. That is the whole purpose of you telling us of the intervention, so let us get down to tintacks: what are you going to put in that will alleviate the problems that lead to child abuse, violence and the other concerns?

I think your answer indicates that the new money is the $300 million over four years. You indicate that you have taken the emphasis off urban housing, but I would still like some firm indication of how much money is likely to go to the Northern Territory as a result of this package of initiatives and how much of that is new money. I accept that you will make some savings from doing things differently, although I do not accept that it is all ATSIC’s fault—ATSIC has been gone a while—but I will not go down that gully. How much is new money and how much is going to the Northern Territory? Will that be over four years or is that front-end loaded? These are serious questions that go to whether or not we are making the intervention effective in terms of housing.

I am keen to tie down what you can tell us about that and also to be clear about what appropriations there are for improved maintenance of housing in the Northern Territory. I note that some of the capital appropriations are for housing for officials. I want to be clear: in terms of the investment in housing, repairs and maintenance, what extra money is going into housing, repairs and maintenance in Indigenous housing in the Northern Territory over the next few years? What sort of money are we talking about?