Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

As I said, the refurbishment cost range is from $20,000 to $100,000 per house, at an average cost of $75,000 across the program. Again, this includes labour, materials and all other associated costs. These funding parameters are not new. These are the funding parameters that were set by the SIHIP review in August 2009. As I was saying, the program is delivering houses for Indigenous communities and it is improving the welfare of those communities and those people while at the same time delivering jobs. One of the things that we have talked about time and time again is: the only way to bridge the gap on Indigenous inequality is through employment. The target was 20 per cent. At the moment the government is delivering 30 per cent through the Territory housing strategy. That is good news for those Indigenous people who have jobs, it is good news for the contractors, and it is good news for those families who have a breadwinner coming home—(Time expired)