First Steps in Closing the Gap
Land-tenure reform
A pre-condition of better housing is secure long-term tenure of the underlying land. Without this security, ownership of assets is uncertain, responsibilities for management and maintenance confused, and incentives for private investment absent.
We are insisting on appropriate security to underpin housing investment in remote Australia. We are accountable to all Australian taxpayers to make sure the money we spend achieves the best housing outcomes. And we are accountable to the residents of remote communities to makes sure houses are properly managed and maintained.
Appropriate security means a lease or other arrangement which ensures clarity of ownership and responsibility for assets.
Landmark housing project for Northern Territory communities
A landmark joint housing program between the Australian and Northern Territory Governments was announced on 12 April 2008. It will deliver vital construction, refurbishment and infrastructure developments, as well as jobs for local people, in 73 Indigenous communities and some urban areas.
The Australian Government’s contribution of $547 million over four years is part of a larger commitment of $813 million to Indigenous housing and infrastructure services in the Northern Territory to 2011. The Territory Government is contributing a further $100 million.
The program will deliver:
• around 750 new houses
• more than 230 new houses to replace houses to be demolished
• more than 2500 housing upgrades
• essential infrastructure to support new houses
• improvements to living conditions in town camps.
Major works will proceed in 16 high-need communities with refurbishments in an additional 57 communities.
As part of the contractual arrangements, successful tenderers will be required to meet targets for local Indigenous employment. Local people will get jobs and training in their own communities, leading to future employment opportunities in construction, repairs and maintenance.
Tenure reform will also underpin the extension of home-ownership opportunities to people living on Indigenous land in remote Australia. Leases will facilitate private sector investment to expand the housing asset base and to encourage private home ownership.
In the Northern Territory, where land tenure is a matter for the Australian Government, we are working with the Northern Territory Government, land councils and Aboriginal communities to ensure we have the necessary pre-conditions for substantial investments.
In the Northern Territory, our approach to tenure is neither prescriptive nor coercive. Communities and traditional owners may wish to pursue a range of options – from the 99-year township leases now provided for under the former Government’s legislation to more limited ‘block leases’ with shorter lease terms.
We are working with the States on developing the right conditions for secure tenure over housing where they have the legislative responsibility. Options for leasing are currently being considered in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. We have approached the New South Wales Government about taking steps to allow home ownership on Aboriginal land in that State.
We need new flexible approaches, recognising that there is no universal solution.
In urban and regional Australia the Government’s long-running Home Ownership Program, providing low-cost home loans adapted to Indigenous circumstances, continues to be one of the most successful Indigenous initiatives. Now administered by Indigenous Business Australia (IBA), the program has helped more than 13,000 Indigenous families to buy their homes since its establishment in 1975. Beginning last financial year, IBA also offers a special package for Indigenous people living in remote Australia through the Home Ownership on Indigenous Land Program. Take up of this program is expected to accelerate as the issues that have inhibited private ownership on communally owned land are resolved.
Home ownership has not been possible for most residents of remote Indigenous Australia. However, it must be among the choices available to all Australians.