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Minister for Indigenous affairs Jenny Macklin. The joint federal and territory government intervention housing scheme has come under fire for its failure to reach its targets. |
Intervention housing scheme wouldn’t have met targets, report finds
ISSUE 184 - 21 Aug 2009
NORTHERN TERRITORY, September 1, 2009: A report into a remote Aboriginal housing scheme in the Northern Territory has found it was behind schedule and over budget.
Outrage over the lack of progress of the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) prompted the NT and federal governments to review the scheme.
Aboriginal MLA Alison Anderson walked out on the NT Labor government last month after she was told only 30 per cent of the money would actually go towards new homes.
She was also told less than half of the 750 homes promised almost 18 months ago would be delivered by the scheme, which is yet to produce a single new home.
The report, released in both Darwin and Melbourne on Monday, has found the program is not on track to meet its targets.
But federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said changes were being made to ensure 750 new houses, 230 rebuilds and 2,500 refurbishments by the end of 2013.
"Urgent action will now mean the project will deliver on its targets," she told reporters in Melbourne.
"The government is determined to implement urgent reforms to make sure we deliver on the commitments we have made."
Ms Macklin said the review had found the construction program was running three months behind schedule but action had been taken to prevent more delays.
The report also recommended the Australian government "take a strong leadership role".
NT Chief Minister Paul Henderson denied the commonwealth was having to step in because of the failings of his government.
However, he admitted, there were "lessons to be learnt".
"Significant changes have been made to the program," he told reporters in Darwin.
"This program will now deliver the additional housing and this report gives us the road map to get there...
"If the project was to have continued on the path that it started then we wouldn't have met those targets."
Among the key findings of the report was that the governance of SIHIP needed to be made less complex, with the layers of management shrunk from six to three levels.
This will enable administration costs to be reduced from 11.4 per cent to eight per cent, it said.
The report also found there had been "unresolved leadership and capacity issues" and criticised the NT government for outsourcing such things as community consultations and workforce development.
"They should more properly be the direct responsibility of government," it said.
"This skewed the balance between program outcomes and led to estimated unit costs in the first three packages of works that are unsustainable."
Mr Henderson on Monday admitted mistakes had been made.
"(They) should be consulted through government, they should not have been outsourced to the private sector," he said.
"These are one of the costs that we are going to bring back in house."
The report has also revised the cost of providing a unit, or house, down to $450,000.
Mr Henderson denied this meant the houses would be smaller but said there would be "more standardised designs".
"It's about having less individually designed homes, more consistency in terms of designs and therefore reducing those design costs over the life of the program," he said.
Mr Henderson also welcomed a greater role from Canberra.
"Governments have to be more hands on in oversighting this project and the report clearly states there is the need for a stronger role from the Australian government (and) the Northern Territory government," he said.
"What the report shows is that we needed to regain control of some of the costs associated with this program...
"In any project of this size there were going to be issues, there were going to be problems. They've been identified." - AAP
For more information on SIHIP, please see the related links.
Related Links
http://www.nit.com.au/News/story.aspx?id=18383
http://www.nit.com.au/News/story.aspx?id=18484
http://www.nit.com.au/News/story.aspx?id=18478
 
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