Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

September 2007, Senator Scullion, was actually under your government, the previous federal government, so why don’t you just try listening for a few seconds? That saw the Commonwealth contribute $793 million to improve housing for Indigenous people in the bush over the 2006 to 2010 financial period.

The work with Connell Wagner examined the remote housing supply chain in great detail, and made clear why small programs could continue to fall short of the objectives. The traditional grant programs were never going to achieve the necessary economies of scale: the mobilisation costs were too high relative to such small returns; the logistical costs reduced the value for money that we were getting and construction programs were too short; and employment and training outcomes were rarely mandated. It was a chronic situation that was being strangled and needed to change. So both governments determined that the alliance contracting model was the best way to deliver SIHIP—both governments: the previous federal government and the Northern Territory government. This is an alliance model that we have inherited and we have accepted and it will continue to deliver this outcome.