Mrs HICKEY - 1994-12-01
During this year's appropriation debate, the minister told the Assembly that 10.25% of this year's budget for Aboriginal housing capital works was Northern Territory funds and the balance was Commonwealth funds. What was the basis for the minister's claim? Is it a fact that the Northern Territory contributes no funds to Aboriginal housing capital works from its own revenue sources nor from untied financial assistance grants? Why won't the minister spend 1 of Territory funds on Aboriginal housing when, for example, he is quite happy to spend at least $14m propping up the Cullen Bay housing estate?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will ignore the remark about Cullen Bay because it is irrelevant. I am not even certain that it is accurate.
Mr Bailey: It is more than that.
Mr HATTON: Let us deal with the question rather than the member's side plays. Much play is made of Territory government funding of Aboriginal housing. I would like to point out that the budget this year provided $2m of the Territory's own discretionary funding towards Aboriginal housing.
Mr Stirling: It is federal money. It is not yours at all.
Mr HATTON: The member is wrong. If he listens, he will learn.
Page 375
$2m of the Territory's discretionary funds is made available for Aboriginal housing under the Aboriginal Rental Housing Program. That is additional funding for the purpose. It was conditional on the conclusion of the bilateral agreement between the Northern Territory and federal governments. The member only ever refers to one specific program which happens to be a federal government program - the Aboriginal Rental Housing Program - for which the Northern Territory government receives $19.7m or $19.6m per annum. In the Northern Territory, that money is utilised exclusively for the provision of housing in remote Aboriginal communities. Some funding goes to the town camp organisations in the major towns, but it is exclusively for those particular programs. If the state governments provide housing for Aboriginal people through their public housing programs, they utilise the Aboriginal Housing Program funding to offset the subsidies that they are providing in their general housing stocks. We do not. All of that money goes to the communities in addition to the funding that comes from ATSIC. Ours is a little more than ATSIC's, but a fair amount of money is going to Aboriginal housing programs and the provision of serviced land. All of the money goes.
In excess of a quarter of the Northern Territory government's Housing Commission housing stocks are housing Aboriginal people. Let me put that into a national perspective. Northern Territory public housing represents approximately 22% of the total housing stock. The national average is between 5% and 6% of total housing stocks. That means that our public housing stock is 4 times that provided in the rest of Australia. Over a quarter of those houses in the Northern Territory house Aboriginal people. That is Territory funding. Somewhere in the order of 2500 to 3000 houses go to Aboriginal people from our public housing stock. That is Aboriginal housing in its true form, and the Territory government is providing and funding it.
If opposition members want to say that part of that funding is federal, I will tell them that we receive $13.6m from the federal government but we pay it $39ma year in interest on the previous advances and debts under the pre-1989 arrangements. Through rental rebates for low-income earners, we are subsiding in excess of $25m against the costs. Thus, members opposite should not talk to me about the $13.6m. It is a drop in the ocean. This furphy, which is being promoted by members opposite - and particularly by the federal member, Hon Warren Snowdon, who continues to push it - totally misses the point. In New South Wales, our effort on Aboriginal housing would be the equivalent of every Housing Commission house in New South Wales housing an Aboriginal person.
Page 376
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will ignore the remark about Cullen Bay because it is irrelevant. I am not even certain that it is accurate.
Mr Bailey: It is more than that.
Mr HATTON: Let us deal with the question rather than the member's side plays. Much play is made of Territory government funding of Aboriginal housing. I would like to point out that the budget this year provided $2m of the Territory's own discretionary funding towards Aboriginal housing.
Mr Stirling: It is federal money. It is not yours at all.
Mr HATTON: The member is wrong. If he listens, he will learn.
Page 375
$2m of the Territory's discretionary funds is made available for Aboriginal housing under the Aboriginal Rental Housing Program. That is additional funding for the purpose. It was conditional on the conclusion of the bilateral agreement between the Northern Territory and federal governments. The member only ever refers to one specific program which happens to be a federal government program - the Aboriginal Rental Housing Program - for which the Northern Territory government receives $19.7m or $19.6m per annum. In the Northern Territory, that money is utilised exclusively for the provision of housing in remote Aboriginal communities. Some funding goes to the town camp organisations in the major towns, but it is exclusively for those particular programs. If the state governments provide housing for Aboriginal people through their public housing programs, they utilise the Aboriginal Housing Program funding to offset the subsidies that they are providing in their general housing stocks. We do not. All of that money goes to the communities in addition to the funding that comes from ATSIC. Ours is a little more than ATSIC's, but a fair amount of money is going to Aboriginal housing programs and the provision of serviced land. All of the money goes.
In excess of a quarter of the Northern Territory government's Housing Commission housing stocks are housing Aboriginal people. Let me put that into a national perspective. Northern Territory public housing represents approximately 22% of the total housing stock. The national average is between 5% and 6% of total housing stocks. That means that our public housing stock is 4 times that provided in the rest of Australia. Over a quarter of those houses in the Northern Territory house Aboriginal people. That is Territory funding. Somewhere in the order of 2500 to 3000 houses go to Aboriginal people from our public housing stock. That is Aboriginal housing in its true form, and the Territory government is providing and funding it.
If opposition members want to say that part of that funding is federal, I will tell them that we receive $13.6m from the federal government but we pay it $39ma year in interest on the previous advances and debts under the pre-1989 arrangements. Through rental rebates for low-income earners, we are subsiding in excess of $25m against the costs. Thus, members opposite should not talk to me about the $13.6m. It is a drop in the ocean. This furphy, which is being promoted by members opposite - and particularly by the federal member, Hon Warren Snowdon, who continues to push it - totally misses the point. In New South Wales, our effort on Aboriginal housing would be the equivalent of every Housing Commission house in New South Wales housing an Aboriginal person.
Page 376
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016