The CLC says that vilifying Tangentyere Council for not signing the lease deal offered by the Australian Government is unfair and doesn’t recognise the social complexities associated with Aboriginal housing
“The fact that Alice Springs town camps have such poor infrastructure and chronic overcrowding is not Tangentyrere Council’s fault – it is the fault of successive Commonwealth and Territory Governments which have drip fed them for years while millions of dollars of Commonwealth Grants funding to the Territory has been shamefully squandered,” CLC Director David Ross said.
“What people do not recognise in this entire debate is that it is not just about houses and sewage pipes. Solving town camp problems is complex and simply not possible without the active involvement of town camp residents.
“Tangentyere have battled along for years trying to keep social programs going which really educate people about how to live in the few houses they do have, how to put money away so that you can eat towards the end of the pension week, looking after old people, meals on wheels, preventing substance abuse, the Job Shop, educating your kids within town camps and so on – programs that assist the most poverty stricken people in our nation,” he said.
“What does the Minister think she will do once she is the ‘landlord’? It should be remembered that that the Australian Government has been the leaseholder of Mutitjulu for more than 20 years and conditions in that remote community are worse than most town camps,” he said.
“As for housing management arrangements, the Minister seems to be out of step with her colleagues. In March this year the Federal Minister for Housing Tanya Plibersek said in a speech to the Sydney Institute that the centrepiece of the government’s reform agenda is to facilitate the growth of a number of sophisticated not-for-profit housing organisations that will operate alongside existing state-run housing authorities,” Mr Ross said.
‘Shifting all of the town camps, and all of the remote communities in the NT under the umbrella of Territory Housing goes against national policy and international trends. The Australian Government wants to use leases to lock in all indigenous housing under Territory Housing for up to forty years while town camp and remote community residents are asking for a social housing mix which is forward looking and promotes diversity and choice.’
“I can assure you that having Territory Housing take over housing in town camps will be no silver bullet. It may even be worse, despite the promised investment of $125 million”, he said.
“It should go without saying that ‘partnerships’ and ‘solutions’ cannot be imposed, let alone compulsorily acquired,” Mr Ross said.
The CLC urges Minister Macklin to reconsider her ultimatum and get back to the negotiating table with Tangentyere. This has implications for everyone living in Alice Springs, and is being watched anxiously by remote community residents who are being asked to consider leasing deals.
1 June 2009
