Mal Brough (Longman, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Regarding La Perouse, I cannot speak specifically about the $1.4 million. I recall that there were health issues there of sewerage or septic overruns et cetera; there were health and wellbeing issues and the Commonwealth undertook to do that work through the CHIP funding. I will try to get back to you as to where that funding is at and whether work has been done at this point. There is a principle behind where we are moving to with La Perouse and other ICHOs—Indigenous community housing organisations. When I was walking down the street in La Perouse I was told that there was a ‘blow-in’—that was the term used—living in a particular house. There were two people with good jobs living in a house with a beautiful view over the harbour and paying a pittance of rent. The houses were designed to be for people who are of lower socioeconomic circumstances. That was a grave concern to the locals there. There were real concerns expressed to me while I was in La Perouse about the way houses are actually dispensed and rented out to various organisations. In particular, the women elders there felt they were being pressured in a very unreasonable way. I did raise these issues with the member for Kingsford Smith but he informed me that he had not been there at that point.

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