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

I would go firstly to the complex nature of the circumstances in communities, to the complex nature of the provision of housing and to the complex nature of the occupation of the houses. It is a seasonality issue. There are a whole range of issues about the number of houses. Do we have a target for how many people should live in each house? No, we do not. I certainly am not aware of one. I am not sure that that is absolutely essential. The term ‘normalisation’ means we want to have the number of people living in houses at the level that you and I enjoy. That is the vision. It is not a five-year vision; we are in this for the long haul.

Communities’ needs are vastly different and we should respect that. For the sake of practicality, some communities have very low levels of occupation and some have very high levels of occupation. Townships which have a language difference have higher or lower occupation depending on what is happening. Independent assessments, which are being conducted at the moment, of each of the communities will provide us with some ideas and direction about the nature of the housing. You have already heard of some of the pilots we have conducted in terms of the nature of housing. We believe there can be some economic efficiencies in terms of critical mass, the numbers of houses we are able to purchase. We are in this for the long term. We know that, if a house is overcrowded, that house will function for a much shorter period. We acknowledge all of those things, and those issues will be taken into consideration as we further roll out our strategy. As I have indicated, it is the government’s stated intention that we will bring the strategy to this place within six months and report back again in 12 months. That will include a housing strategy which will reflect the needs and diversity we find among communities and within those communities.