Sandy Macdonald (NSW, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

DHA is part of the Defence portfolio and is responsible to the Minister for Defence, Dr Brendan Nelson. In my role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, I am responsible for Defence corporate services and infrastructure matters, including Defence housing, so I take a particular interest in DHA.

I have on a number of occasions participated in the opening of new DHA housing estates, and I can understand why the majority of DHA clients and customers are satisfied with the standard of housing and assistance provided by DHA. Its function, as senators are probably aware, is to provide high-quality housing in housing estates and smaller housing subdivisions, and to manage Defence housing, in partnership with developers and contractors. It is also involved in providing relocation services to members of the Australian Defence Force and their families to meet the increasingly high operational needs and requirements of the Department of Defence.

DHA currently manages around 17,000 residences in all states and territories and has about $6 billion worth of housing assets. It is an extremely important statutory corporation. The authority also provides housing and relocation services to employees of the Australian Customs Service. DHA is required by legislation to perform its functions in accordance with sound commercial practice and, in recent years, it has done so extremely successfully. It operates cost effectively and with absolute accountability.

DHA’s projected full-year earnings for 2005-06, before interest and tax, are around $113 million, with a projected $67 million to be returned as a dividend to shareholders, which of course is the government. With around 700 employees in over 25 housing management centres across Australia, DHA provides an efficient and high-quality housing and relocation service that meets the needs of customers, clients and, increasingly, a wide range of investors in the public-private partnership arrangement that DHA runs by providing houses to the Australian defence forces.

The year ahead will be an exciting one for DHA as it pursues a number of growth opportunities, including the Defence Single LEAP: Living Environment Accommodation Project and off-base single accommodation. DHA will also change its name to Defence Housing Australia. It is a very good organisation, and I am pleased to be a part of it. I am pleased to see that it has tabled its statement of corporate intent for 2006-07, and I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.