2,500 houses will be refurbished through SIHIP across the Territory.

Refurbishments will target the key areas of a house that affect people’s health, focusing on the wet areas of a house including kitchens and bathrooms.

Providing tenants with houses that are safe and functional means ensuring the house provides tenants with; a place to wash and bathe, facilities to wash clothes and bedding, the ability to remove waste safely from the house, and the ability to store, prepare and cook food.

Refurbishment works will range from $20,000 to $100,000 per house but will average $75,000.

There have been reports in the media of handymen who can deliver “refurbishments” cheaper than what is being delivered through SIHIP.

It needs to be understood that for a program of this size, it would be completely impractical to hand money to a group of handymen and contractors - who operate with no overheads - with varying degrees of quality and consistency – and without supervision.

The Alliance is required to work within the Building Code of Australia, Australian Standards and the National Indigenous Housing Guide.

Alliances are required to have Federal Safety Commissioner (FSC) accreditation and are regularly audited by the FSC. This is a requirement of all major construction projects funded by the Australian Government. FSC accreditation brings with it a series of obligations including having safety officers on each site and adherence to stringent safety standards.

For example, the Alliance has budgeted $75,000 for temporary fencing for the Southern Refurbishment package. It is an FSC requirement that all construction sites are fenced while works are underway.

The investment in a SIHIP refurbishment also includes providing transitional housing for families that need to be temporarily relocated during what is a large scale community wide program where tenants can not stay with relatives (this practice is encouraged to keep costs down). If this was handed to a handyman/contractor, Territory Housing would still need to cover these costs.

Nearly $2 million has been set aside across the Southern Refurbishment package to provide transitional accommodation for families while their houses are being refurbished.

In additional to the works being delivered through SIHIP, an improved system of housing management is being implemented though the joint Australian and Northern Territory Government Remote Housing NT Program.

This includes increased funding for repairs and maintenance, the need for tenants to sign a tenancy agreement, support services for tenants and the payment of rent.

Rent paid by tenants will be reinvested into repairs and maintenance. This will ensure that the housing assets are maintained appropriately.

To ensure the sustainability and quality of what is being delivered the Governments are working with the Alliances to make sure we are using appropriate material, safety standards are being followed, we are employing Indigenous people and we are delivering work that will last.

The Department has staff involved in the planning and delivery of the refurbishment works and has a dedicated team of Asset Management Officers (AMOs) who inspect properties to ensure the agreed scope of works is carried out to the appropriate standard before the Department accepts the property back from the Alliance.

In relation to specific questions asked:

1 As of 11 March 20, how many houses are planned to be constructed and how many houses will receive upgrades and how many will receive repairs and maintenance?

Through SIHIP, $3.9 million will be spent refurbishing 52 houses in Ali Curung, an average of $75,000 per house.

Refurbishment work will focus on making houses safe and restoring functionally, with a focus on improving the ‘critical healthy living practices’ within the envelope of the house from the National Indigenous Housing Guidelines.

This means that homes will have a place to wash and bathe, facilities to wash clothes and bedding, the ability to remove waste safely from the house and the ability to store, prepare and cook food.


All work is inspected by Department Asset Management Officers who ensure the agreed scope of work for each property has been carried out to an appropriate standard. Any defects are rectified and repaired. Repairs and maintenance will be ongoing by the Shires until 30 June 2010 after which Service Agreements will be struck between the Department and Shires.

Ali Curung is a refurbishment only community, no new house construction will occur under SIHIP.

Ali Curung is a refurbishment only community, no new house construction will occur under SIHIP.

As at 11 March 2010, New Future Alliance has completed 25 refurbishments in Ali Curung and a further 8 are underway as part of the work in 29 Central Australian communities.

The remaining 19 refurbishments will commence progressively over the next 4-6 weeks

The average length of time for the refurbishment of a house is two weeks.

The cost to refurbish a home in Ali Curung varies from $20,000 to $100,000 per house, depending on what needs to be done.

This level of detail is not available. To break this down to individual houses will impose significant administration and cost which I would rather see spent on delivering dwellings. However the average cost of $75,000 for refurbishment will result in a place to wash and to cook and store food.

The local shire has not subcontracted to SIHIP in Ali Curung.

Alliances commit to NTG local industry participation and as such work extensively with the Northern Territory Industry Capability Network (NTICN) to identify local suppliers in the first instance wherever they can provide competitive, quality products to the program.

This is the largest investment in Indigenous housing by governments which is why standard and quality control measures are in place to ensure what we spend now doesn’t cost us more later.

Should local suppliers source goods from overseas, the Program requires that they meet performance specifications set down for SIHIP and comply with Australian Standards.

As at 12 March 2010, there were 45 Indigenous and non Indigenous employees on Package 3A which includes Ali Curung.

The Australian Government Business Manager (GBM) is involved in SIHIP activities, the Northern Territory Government Alliance Director, and the NFA alliance leadership team are involved in management activities. Various numbers of the SIHIP program team and local regional housing staff would have input into Ali Curung activities from time to time.

SIHIP has set ambitious targets for Indigenous employment and training, the achievements so far have been good. The implementation, monitoring and achievement of these targets would not have been possible if the work was given to an average handyman type contractor.

6 CDEP participants are employed as a team to paint floors in all houses in Ali Curung.

An additional 19 CDEP participants commenced induction training on the 19th April 2010. 12 of these participants commenced working on the refurbishment of a house on the 27 April 2010.

Pre-employment training was an opportunity provided in Ali Curung for people currently receiving Community Development Employment Project (CDEP), payments from Centrelink. The community of Ali Curung (either on CDEP or JSA benefits) were offered a 6 week training course which they completed, as this allows participants to continue receiving CDEP payments while training.

All employees of the Alliance’s are paid under the appropriate award for their employment type.

For members of the Ali Curung community who decided to remain on CDEP payments (as opposed to having short term employment which requires coming off payments), CDEP provides work experience with the Alliance. This experience develops participants’ skills and employability in order to assist their move into employment outside CDEP.

Local people interested in becoming trades assistants will be able to apply for either work-experience (if they choose to stay on either CDEP or JSA payments) or work directly if they are interested in permanent full time employment and are happy to relocate for work as the Alliance moves to other communities.

All local Indigenous people employed by the Alliance (or their subcontractors) will have a career management plan which outlines the individual’s aspirations, work skills and experience, and highlights training needed.

The Alliance pays all employees under the appropriate award for their employment type.

The Alliance pays all employees under the appropriate award for their employment type.

This information is commercial in confidence.

However, as at 1 April 2010 there were 45 Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees on Package 3A which includes Ali Curung.

Ali Curung is a refurbishment only community and does not include infrastructure upgrades.

Ali Curung is a refurbishment only community and does not include infrastructure upgrades.

Ali Curung is a refurbishment only community and does not include infrastructure upgrades.

Ali Curung is a refurbishment only community and does not include infrastructure upgrades.