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New houses built for the NT community of Wugularr in 2003. They were built by the now abolished ATSIC after rising flood waters. An intervention housing program has recently come under fire for failing to provide a single house for Aboriginal people. |
Labor underestimated lack of infrastructure: Housing minister
Friday, 21 August 2009
By Tara Ravens
NORTHERN TERRITORY, September 2, 2009: Infrastructure has become the hot topic in the Northern Territory's Indigenous housing saga, after a government minister admitted Labor had little idea of the magnitude of the problem.
NT Housing Minister Rob Knight said it was only after work had started in remote communities that the government realised the extent of the needs on the ground.
"It became very apparent that we had underestimated the degree of the lack of infrastructure," he told ABC Radio.
"You're not only replacing sewage pipes on the block itself, but sewage pipes down the road to the sewage ponds.
"There was an underestimation there of the degree of the degradation."
The federal and territory governments are now being called on to detail exactly how much money will need to be spent on either upgrading existing infrastructure or building new services.
"It's beyond belief," said opposition Country Liberals deputy leader Kezia Purick.
"These guys have been at it for nearly nine years and when they sat down with the commonwealth to pull together this budget they should have known what it was like in the Northern Territory communities.
"For them to get it so wrong goes to the heart of their sheer incompetence."
Her comments come a day after a report found the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) was over budget and behind schedule.
Both governments have committed to building all 750 new homes they promised 18 months ago but, in order to achieve this, the cost of rolling out infrastructure will no longer be borne by the original $672 million budget.
"That figure no longer includes the cost of infrastructure - and the government must reveal exactly how much that will cost," Ms Purick said.
"Tell taxpayers how much extra they will be paying for infrastructure and how much will come out of the Territory's coffers."
The report is not clear on how the infrastructure projects will now be funded, although it's been suggested the money will come out of the National Partnership on Remote Indigenous Housing.
Despite a report recommendation that the federal government take greater control of the project, Mr Knight denied NT Labor had clocked up yet another failure only a few years after the Howard government announced its unprecedented takeover of the region's remote communities.
"This review has just highlighted that perhaps there needs to be a few more of their officials involved and that's what's going to happen," he said, adding that the scheme was being "tuned" as it progressed.
Mr Knight said the needs of communities were often not realised until workers and government agencies were on the ground.
"You don't know until you get there," he said.
Federal opposition Indigenous affairs spokesman Tony Abbott said there was "something very smelly and suspicious" about SIHIP, while Aboriginal MLA Alison Anderson said it was unlikely to deliver its promised targets despite the appointment of commonwealth officials to oversee the project.
Ms Anderson, who quit the Labor Party last month in protest over its appalling handling of SIHIP, said she felt "absolutely" vindicated by the report.
"The commonwealth needs to take control of (SIHIP) and watch it," she told ABC Radio, adding that her former colleagues had been willing to "sit there and just cream off the money".
Director of the Central Land Council, David Ross, said checks needed to be in place to ensure that infrastructure, as well as the new houses, rebuilds and refurbishments, turned out to be more than empty promises.
"As soon as Aboriginal housing is out of the limelight it is almost impossible to convince either the commonwealth or NT governments to ensure that housing money is spent on good quality, value-for-money housing services," he said. - AAP
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