Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a landmark $4 billion remote housing investment across 10 years for Aboriginal Territorians.
The Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT) has released a statement which reads: “The announcement is the culmination of 12 months of strong leadership and advocacy from AHNT and heralds a once-in-a-generation opportunity to properly address the severe shortage of housing across the 73 remote communities and make critical upgrades to some 398 homelands.”
The long-term agreement promises to deliver 2700 new homes and aligns with efforts to grow remote economies.
The additional announcement of the Australian government’s $707 million remote jobs and economic development program will establish 3000 remote jobs with superannuation and provide a long-term pipeline of work to fuel the sustainability of the Aboriginal-controlled housing sector.
A further $120 million has been allocated to maintain and upgrade housing and infrastructure in homelands to match the NT’s annual investment over the next three years.
AHNT will work closely with the sector, land councils and governments to ensure the Aboriginal-controlled sector is prioritised to deliver work across the life of the homeland’s repairs and maintenance program.
AHNT CEO Skye Thompson is confident that the investment will include homelands.
Thompson said: “I’m pleased that AHNT and the land councils provided strong guidance and leadership to governments to achieve this commitment, and our member organisations will be thrilled at the prospect of additional long-term funding to redress the long-term neglect of homelands.”
To embed Aboriginal decision-making across the life of the 10-year investment, AHNT will be part of a historic partnership agreement with the Australian and NT governments and land councils to deliver it.
The investment also includes a further $1 million over two years to support AHNT’s work to date in strengthening the Aboriginal-controlled sector under this partnership.
Thompson said: “We are seeing a significant shift in how we collectively approach remote housing and build remote economies of scale. Over time we will build homes that are a much better fit for climate and culture.
“We will involve and empower Aboriginal people in planning, design and construction as well as maintenance, repairs and tenancy management. Our aim is for the whole life cycle of Aboriginal housing to be Aboriginal-led.”
