Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government is determined to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. Our government’s commitment to improving the life chances of Indigenous Australians in partnership with Indigenous Australians stands strong. We know that housing is absolutely central to the government’s Closing the Gap agenda. It is one of the seven building blocks agreed by the Council of Australian Governments as necessary to bridging the gap in this disadvantage. We know that the link between the availability of adequate housing and broader life outcomes such as health, education and employment has been well established. We know we need to overcome the historically very ad hoc and manifestly inadequate arrangements of the past in remote Indigenous housing.

We know that in remote Australia the state of housing currently provides the most visible evidence of the persistent failure of governments to address Indigenous disadvantage, and this is something we are moving on from. We know it is critical that we improve the poor standard of housing and infrastructure and that we reduce overcrowding and homelessness in remote Indigenous communities. But logistics in these remote communities are indeed difficult. We know that no family can be expected to function normally in an overcrowded, dilapidated house where you cannot cook a meal, store perishable foods, have a shower or do a load of washing.

I have seen evidence of this on the ground in remote communities in my home state of Western Australia. At Ringer Soak, for example, I witnessed chronic overcrowding, with over 160 adults crowded into 24 mostly two-bedroom houses. At Balgo, a relatively large remote community, I saw massive overcrowding, with up to 10 people in each house, and I saw also distressing evidence of the associated problems of mental health and family breakdown. There are similar problems of overcrowding in the remote communities of Mulan and Mindibunga too, so I do not question the importance of this issue. I know that getting our housing right is critical to restoring positive social norms.

So it is no small thing that this government has committed an unprecedented $5.5 billion over 10 years to the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing to improve housing and living conditions in remote Australia. We know that in remote communities housing has traditionally been managed in a very ad hoc and very unsustainable way. This partnership is a huge step towards addressing this, providing things like regular tenure arrangements, fair and consistent property management and tenant behaviours. It is also the single biggest outlay any government has made to address the living conditions across remote Indigenous Australia. It is on all counts an ambitious reform agenda, representing an unprecedented national commitment to tackling what were previously viewed as intractable problems.

It is no small or easy thing to undertake such significant levels of investment reform, and indeed they are not without their difficulties. In the case of the Northern Territory, there were concerns expressed at the early delays in the rollout of construction activity. But we took swift action in response to concerns about the slow progress in capital works. A specific Office of Remote Indigenous Housing was established within Minister Macklin’s department, and senior staff were deployed to key jurisdictions to oversee the rollout of the national partnership. In response to a comprehensive review process in the Northern Territory, we have established an independent expert quality assurance team to inspect and assess new houses and refurbishments.

The government is confident that these steps will streamline implementation and ensure high-quality outcomes are delivered. The transition to an entirely new model of delivering houses, including introduction of new governance arrangements and a new large-scale procurement model, is a major reform. In this context, I very firmly believe that our management of the SIHIP is not a failure. It is, Mr Acting Deputy President Bishop, a significant achievement.