Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

With regard to the town camps, the bill also provides for the Australian government to exercise the powers of the Northern Territory government to forfeit or resume certain leases. The notion of the failure to provide for the lease in an arrangement would be the same issue, an identical and parallel issue, to that under which the Northern Territory would move to cancel a lease because of noncompliance between the parties. But I do not think this is the place to surmise what those may be. They would be around the same conditions of the current leases that exist between the Northern Territory government and the occupiers—certain leases known as town camps—during the five-year period of the emergency response. I understand the Northern Territory government has announced that it will not resume or forfeit the town camp leases. Again, it has walked away from its responsibilities for Indigenous citizens in the Northern Territory, and that is why this bill provides for the government to do what the Northern Territory government has refused to do.

The government has been in negotiations with Alice Springs town camps for some time and we remain hopeful that they will agree to subleasing the housing areas of their land to the Northern Territory for 99 years to be run as normal public housing. You would be aware that negotiations are under way in Tennant Creek to deal with some of the town camps there. It is very promising, and those negotiations will continue.