The Central Land Council welcomes today’s announcement by Chief Minister Eva Lawler of the establishment of a dedicated, stand-alone housing department if the government is re-elected.
As a signatory to the National Partnership Agreement for Remote Housing and Homelands and a member of the agreement’s Joint Steering Committee, the CLC has been calling for a dedicated housing department to deliver the 10-year, $4 billion investment into remote housing across the Northern Territory.
CLC CEO Les Turner said, “We hope that the establishment of a new Territory Homes department ensures a more integrated approach from government to rolling out the new ten year remote housing partnership agreement. The agreement is based on the Closing the Gap principles of shared decision making and we can’t do that without shared data and a coordinated approach within government.”
Mr Turner said, “Splitting housing across multiple government departments posed a challenge under the previous partnership agreement. Bringing them together will make the job of the Joint Steering Committee that oversees the rollout of the agreement much easier.”
Bringing all aspects of the housing system from planning and construction through to property and tenancy management under one roof should also result in better decisions and clearer arrangements for remote housing tenants.
Mr Turner added, “Our members out bush often report confusion over which government department to contact and suffer long wait times for responses to repair and maintenance requests.”
Mr Turner added, “We thank the NT Government for listening to our request and call on the CLP to make a similar commitment in the lead up to the NT election.”
Contact: Sophia Willcocks | 0488 984 885| media@clc.org.au