John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

In all of the almost 10 years I've been in this place I have known Senator Scullion. He's a National Party senator, and I can tell you his commitment to our First Australians is huge. It is his passion. He does his best to work for them. It's on his mind all the time. Senator Brockman made the point that social housing in remote communities, just like in any other community, is the responsibility of state and territory governments. That is a fact. So for this to work the states and territories must come on board. Of course, the taxpayers and the federal government will put a lot of money into it. The Commonwealth remains in negotiations with the Queensland, Western Australian, South Australian and Northern Territory governments about future funding arrangements beyond the one-off 10-year remote housing agreement that is due to expire in June this year. We are just a few months out from the expiration of that 10-year agreement and negotiations are underway.

State Labor housing ministers from Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland have been out spreading mistruths on remote housing. That shouldn't surprise anyone. The Commonwealth has not made or announced any decision regarding future funding arrangements for remote housing. In fact, negotiations with all of these states remain ongoing. Unlike the Northern Territory, the other state governments have not put any money on the table for Indigenous housing as part of these negotiations—that's a very important point to note—even though social housing in remote communities is a direct responsibility of the states and territories. If the state Labor governments of Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia were fair dinkum about remote housing in their states, they would have put forward a commitment by now, but they haven't.

It is important to note that public housing remains a state and territory government responsibility. Notwithstanding this, the Commonwealth invested more than $6 billion in housing last year, including over $1.4 billion in Queensland, over $620 million in Western Australia and over $440 million in South Australia. These funds are allocated on the basis of all citizens in their states, but these state governments have decided they will not spend a single cent in remote Indigenous communities. Amazing! These state Labor governments should not be so city-centric and should invest some of this money in remote and Indigenous communities. But, typical Labor, they look at the cities only and forget what is out in the regional areas.

In the past 10 years, the Commonwealth has invested $5.4 billion across the states and Northern Territory to support jurisdictions in managing their responsibilities for remote housing. It is timely for the jurisdictions to do their fair share and fund public housing services for their residents in remote communities, in the same way they do for those in non-remote locations. But it's not just about the money. It's about how we do business, making sure that Indigenous people have a greater role in delivering the work, from deciding how the investment is rolled out to actually working on the ground and building the houses. We'll not get on top of this if we keep doing business as usual.

The Commonwealth government provided $5.4 billion over the 10 years to 2018 through the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. Come on, states and territories, you need to lift your game—although the Northern Territory seems to be on the money here. We have to do these things to close the gap. I remember many years ago going out to the Flinders Ranges and carting sheep and cattle from the stations. The Indigenous workers there were great stockmen, great workers and great blokes. They were tremendous toilers and they were very proud of the work they did. We need to keep the jobs out in the rural areas, especially in the remote and regional areas, because the best thing you can give these people is a job. I'm very pleased to see the growth in Indigenous businesses in Inverell, where I live, such as the factory that makes pet food. They have now sold it, but they employ many local Aboriginal people there. They are very proud to work there and very proud to do their job, and they do a great job. This is the big thing: build the pride, get them to work and let them achieve themselves. We can provide the housing and help them on the way, but the jobs are the big thing in the end. (Time expired)