Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER)
Monitoring Report

5. Housing and Land Reform

Safe and healthy living conditions are dependant on adequate housing as an essential building block for improved living standards for Indigenous children. This includes better and more flexible housing options, potable water, and the safe removal of sewerage waste products.

The Australian Government is committed to pursuing land reform for townships on Indigenous land in a manner that respects cultural links to land and traditional land holding systems, but delivers a system of improved housing, infrastructure and service delivery. Land reform is also essential to ensure a solid basis is established for future economic development, private investment and home ownership.

5.1 Five Year Leases

The Australian Government currently holds five-year leases over 64 Northern Territory communities by operation of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act 2007. These leases were acquired to facilitate the administration of the Northern Territory Emergency Response, providing security of tenure and prompt access for the delivery of services, repair of buildings and upgrade of infrastructure in communities. Twenty-six of the leases commenced 18 August 2007 while the balance of 38 leases commenced 17 February 2008.

The boundaries of the leases were initially set by the legislation using mechanisms including aerial photography and larger areas than necessary were acquired.

Cadastral (boundary) surveys of five-year leased communities have been conducted to reduce the lease boundaries so that they more closely match the actual area of the township. The reduced boundaries will come into effect on 1 April 2009.

5.2 Housing and Land

New Houses and Major Upgrades

The Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) did not include measures for new housing. SIHIP falls outside the scope of the NTER but has been included in this report.

Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP)

The Australian Government, in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, is delivering a substantial investment in capital works in the 73 prescribed communities and urban living areas throughout the Northern Territory.

This program will provide:

around 750 new houses including new subdivisions
over 230 new houses to replace houses to be demolished
over 2,500 housing upgrades
essential infrastructure to support new houses
improvements to living conditions in town camps

As part of SIHIP, appropriate land tenure arrangements must be in place before construction can commence. Leases are already in place at Nguiu, the Tennant Creek Town Camps, and the three Groote Eylandt region communities of Angurugu, Umbakumba and Milyakburra. Housing precinct leases have also recently been agreed for Maningrida, Galiwinku, Gunbalanya and Wadeye.

Following the agreement of leases, design and community consultation activities are now proceeding in 48 communities across the Northern Territory. These communities will comprise up to 60% of the funds allocated to SIHIP.

Voluntary Leasing Arrangements

It is joint Australian and Northern Territory Government policy that major government investment in housing and infrastructure in Indigenous communities be secured by appropriate land tenure arrangements.

In the Australian Government’s response to the NTER Review, it committed to a staged transition from compulsory five-year leases over communities to voluntary lease arrangements. Current long-term lease negotiations focus on the 16 communities identified for major SIHIP capital investment. However, voluntary leases will also be progressively offered to other communities.

Three Groote Eylandt communities have tenure secured under whole-of-township lease arrangements (Angurugu, Umbakumba and Milyakburra). This is in addition to the whole-of-township lease agreement finalised in Nguiu in 2007. Additional funding for Nguiu ($8.5 million) and Groote ($10 million) was announced on 16 December 2008.

In February 2009, the NLC endorsed the decision of traditional owners to grant 40 year leases at Maningrida, Galiwinku, Gunbalanya and Wadeye to support major housing investment in these communities. Negotiations at Ngukurr and Numbulwar are in early stages and it is anticipated the NLC will commence consultations with the three remaining priority communities (Gapuwiyak, Milingimbi, Yirrkala) in mid 2009.The Central Land Council is continuing to work with traditional owners and community members of the three central communities, Hermannsburg, Lajamanu and Yuendumu, where major SIHIP works have been allocated, Yuendemu, Lajamanu and Hermannsburg.

Town camps are also a priority. A sublease with Tennant Creek Town Camps was signed by Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation on 20 October 2008 and additional housing funding of $6.5 million announced on 28 October 2008.

Work is continuing toward reaching lease agreement for Alice Springs Town Camps.

Land use approvals, permit changes and government facilities within communities and the benefits to the community of these facilities

The leases were acquired to facilitate security of tenure and access for the repair of buildings and infrastructure. This provides a platform to support implementation of other measures and initiatives.

Government facilities within communities

The five-year leases have been used to underpin NTER measures including:

the installation of safe houses;
the improvement of conditions through the Community Clean-Up Program; and
the installation of government accommodation complexes.

The five-year leases will also underpin housing refurbishments in 52 communities under the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program and reformed property and tenancy management arrangements.

As part of the NTER, FaHCSIA established temporary government accommodation complexes in remote Indigenous communities to address immediate government staff accommodation requirements. By 31 December 2008 complexes were established in 53 communities. These complexes are used predominantly by Government Business Managers and Community Employment Brokers however they also have the facility to accommodate other government staff on a temporary basis.

The accommodation complexes provide an indirect benefit to the communities in allowing government staff to reside within the communities that they support. By living within the communities the government staff gain a better understanding of community issues and develop stronger relationships with these supported communities. This has a positive affect on the NTER outcomes.

Land use approvals

As leaseholder the Australian Government (through FaHCSIA) has a range of responsibilities including the management of five-year leased land. Prior to the five‑year leases:

Land Councils were not involved in the day-to-day regulation of land in townships;
the NT Government’s Department of Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) performed town planning functions, allocating administrative lots notwithstanding the absence of any underlying legal right to occupy the land; and
a large proportion of those occupying land did so with no legal basis.

From 1 July 2008 FaHCSIA implemented a new process requiring all parties to seek Australian Government approval (through FaHCSIA) for proposed new and altered uses of five-year leased land. As a result, for the first time a consistent and transparent process is in place to allocate land and provide certainty to users. Parties using land immediately before the commencement of five‑year leases have not been required to seek approval to continue using those areas, as all existing arrangements were retained.

From the commencement of the NTER to 31 December 2008 FaHCSIA received requests for approval to use approximately 100 areas of land, of which approximately 45 were approved. Longer term leases over five-year leased areas can still be negotiated with land owners but will not take effect until approved by the Minister for FaHCSIA.

The process FaHCSIA follows to consider approving proposed uses of five-year leased land is varied depending on the specific proposal but usually involves FaHCSIA:

assessing whether the proposed land use is consistent with the objective of the NTNER Act;
working with the Northern Territory Government’s Department of Planning and Infrastructure to allocate appropriate lots (if required);
ensuring competing claims to the land are considered;
seeking information regarding community views through Government Business Managers; and
issuing Commonwealth approval to use land if appropriate (for up to a period equivalent to the remainder of the Commonwealth’s five-year lease).

The form of approvals varies depending on the level of risk associated with proposed land uses. All approvals are made subject to conditions including obligations for developers to:

comply with the provisions of all relevant legislation including the Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act;
maintain the land and/or buildings; and
insure buildings appropriately.

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Permits

The permit system manages the control of access to Aboriginal land held under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Prior to the NTER, it was generally an offence to enter or remain on any Aboriginal land, including townships without a permit. The Aboriginal Land Act (NT)allows the Northern Territory Land Councils, traditional owners, and in some cases, the NTG to issue and revoke permits. The police have the power to remove people where they are in violation of permit requirements.

The 2007 NTER legislation package made various changes to the permit system removing the necessity to obtain permits for certain people in certain circumstances. These changes were permanent and do not lapse at the conclusion of the five year emergency response period.

Government employees and contractors no longer require a permit to enter Aboriginal land in the NT to perform relevant duties. This change took effect with the commencement of the NTER legislation in August 2007. In addition, all those involved with the NTER, including medical teams and volunteers, do not require a permit for the period of the NTER.

Further changes introducing limited public rights of access were delayed by six months and took effect from 17 February 2008. As a result, common areas in 52 major communities are now accessible by members of the public without the need to obtain a permit if arriving by air, sea, public roads or roads listed by Ministerial determination.

However, it was a Government election commitment to repeal the changes to the permit system allowing limited public rights of access that were made by the previous Government. Consequently, no Ministerial determination listing roads has been made. This limits the accessibility of communities by the public.

Further, the Government introduced the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008 (the Bill) into the Parliament in February 2008 to restore the permit system for common areas in major communities.

The Bill passed the House of Representatives on 2 September 2008. The Opposition and Independent Senators opposed the Bill in the Senate. While the Bill failed to pass the Parliament last year, it remains Government policy to reinstate the permit system.
The Government’s policy in this regard was subject to a further election commitment to ensure access to communities without a permit for journalists working in their professional capacity. A Ministerial authorisation was prepared to this effect and would be made upon passage of the Bill.

The day to day operation of the permit system remains the same as before the NTER took effect. The issuing and revocation of permits remains a matter for the Land Councils, traditional owners and the police as required. The process for responding to a person who is in violation of the permit requirements (by contacting the relevant Land Council and/or the police if necessary) is also unchanged, and the police still have the power to remove people where they are in violation of permit requirements. The Government has encouraged people wishing to access Aboriginal land to continue to contact the relevant Land Council regarding visits to communities even in relation to areas where a permit is not strictly required.

In summary, the current status in relation to permits is as follows:

Government employees and contractors do not require a permit to perform relevant duties.
All those involved with the NTER including the above and also including medical teams and volunteers do not require a permit for the period of the NTER.
The public can access the common areas of 52 major communities.
The public can reach major communities by air, sea and public road.
The public require permits for non-public roads outside the 52 major communities.
The public still require a permit to visit the vast majority of Aboriginal Land.

The NTER Review Board report recommended that ‘the permit system be reinstated to control general public access to the townships on Aboriginal land and that the provisions be effectively policed.’

5.3 Community Clean Up (CCU)

The CCU Program has been implemented in 69 remote communities. The Program has involved four key activities:

condition assessments of houses and community buildings;
urgent ‘make safe’ repairs of buildings (generally done at the time of assessment);
minor repair works of up to $5000 in labour and $5000 in materials per building;
identify major repair works to buildings (which will be undertaken as part of the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program - see listing below).

A total of 3,274 buildings were surveyed. Make safe repairs were carried out on 2,801 buildings and minor repairs were carried out on 2,814 buildings. All repair work has now been completed.


Description	Total Buildings Surveyed	Make Safe	Make Safe Percentage	Minor Vital	Minor Vital Percentage
December 2007	3,185	2,718	85%	2,732<	86%
Communities Surveyed after December 2008 (Angurugu, Milkyaburra, Umbakumba & Amoonguna)	89	83	93%	82<	92%
Total CCU program figures	3,274	2,801	86%	2,814	86%