❓ The Minister for Housing provides an update on the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, highlighting WA's success in meeting targets and addressing concerns about future funding and contractor inclusion.
AnsweredQoN 909Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT ON REMOTE INDIGENOUS
HOUSING
909. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for
Housing:
Can the minister update the house on
the progress toward meeting the targets set for the capital works program under
the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing?
HOUSING
909. Mr I.C. BLAYNEY to the Minister for
Housing:
Can the minister update the house on
the progress toward meeting the targets set for the capital works program under
the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Geraldton for
a very good question. It is a timely to update the house on how we are going
with the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. I know
that the member for Geraldton is a strong advocate for quality housing for
Aboriginal communities in his electorate. The National Partnership Agreement on
Remote Indigenous Housing is a 10-year program. We are approaching the end of
the first five years and I can report to the house that since the program
started in 2010, Western Australia is the only state or territory that has
delivered on all the targets set by the commonwealth. This is an outstanding
achievement by the lead agency, which is my department, the Department of
Housing. As we near the end of the first five years of the 10-year program, the
commonwealth target for new houses was 480, and 1 288 for refurbished houses. I
can report to the house today that we have delivered 424 new homes and
refurbished 1 191 houses through 60 Aboriginal communities.
The target for this year is 107 new houses. We have 42
occupied already. Our target for refurbishment is 256, and we already have 140
occupied. We are well on the way, once again, to meeting our targets, and we
are the only state to do so. As we draw near and are looking at the next
five-year program, we have received comments from some of the contractors in
areas of the Kimberley that they have been excluded from some contracts. Of
late, the department has been running workshops in Broome and Kununurra to
brief contractors on the procurement process, the time lines and what they need
to put in their submission so they can be successful, or endeavour to be
successful, when we go to tender in the next few months.
I want to conclude with a comment about the negotiations for
the next national partnership. Just before the federal election, a lot of
pressure was put on the state, including me, by the then federal housing
minister to sign up to the new partnership agreement for the next five years.
Indeed, one could suggest that it might have been blackmail. The former
minister held off $76 million of funding, which we had actually spent on
delivering new houses and refurbishing houses, unless we signed up to the next
five-year contract. We had concerns with the next contract, because over the
next five years the federal government wants to deliver more new houses. In
some of our remote Indigenous communities, we are getting to the stage at which
the actual provision of utilities such as power and water is reaching a
maximum. Indeed, it is far more cost effective to put our money into
refurbishing houses than building new houses when there are still houses that
need to be refurbished and the utilities need to be upgraded.
I am very pleased to report that I spoke to the new federal
Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion. He, fortunately, could
almost be a Western Australian. As a Northern Territorian, he is close to
Western Australia. Given that he ran the Pancontinental mine just outside
Kalgoorlie for some years, maybe he is an honorary Western Australian. He
understands the issues in WA. He has released the $76 million and he has agreed
to sit down with me in the next 12 months to nut out a decent program, with
flexibility for a more cost-effective delivery of houses and refurbished houses
to Indigenous communities throughout Western Australia.
a very good question. It is a timely to update the house on how we are going
with the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing. I know
that the member for Geraldton is a strong advocate for quality housing for
Aboriginal communities in his electorate. The National Partnership Agreement on
Remote Indigenous Housing is a 10-year program. We are approaching the end of
the first five years and I can report to the house that since the program
started in 2010, Western Australia is the only state or territory that has
delivered on all the targets set by the commonwealth. This is an outstanding
achievement by the lead agency, which is my department, the Department of
Housing. As we near the end of the first five years of the 10-year program, the
commonwealth target for new houses was 480, and 1 288 for refurbished houses. I
can report to the house today that we have delivered 424 new homes and
refurbished 1 191 houses through 60 Aboriginal communities.
The target for this year is 107 new houses. We have 42
occupied already. Our target for refurbishment is 256, and we already have 140
occupied. We are well on the way, once again, to meeting our targets, and we
are the only state to do so. As we draw near and are looking at the next
five-year program, we have received comments from some of the contractors in
areas of the Kimberley that they have been excluded from some contracts. Of
late, the department has been running workshops in Broome and Kununurra to
brief contractors on the procurement process, the time lines and what they need
to put in their submission so they can be successful, or endeavour to be
successful, when we go to tender in the next few months.
I want to conclude with a comment about the negotiations for
the next national partnership. Just before the federal election, a lot of
pressure was put on the state, including me, by the then federal housing
minister to sign up to the new partnership agreement for the next five years.
Indeed, one could suggest that it might have been blackmail. The former
minister held off $76 million of funding, which we had actually spent on
delivering new houses and refurbishing houses, unless we signed up to the next
five-year contract. We had concerns with the next contract, because over the
next five years the federal government wants to deliver more new houses. In
some of our remote Indigenous communities, we are getting to the stage at which
the actual provision of utilities such as power and water is reaching a
maximum. Indeed, it is far more cost effective to put our money into
refurbishing houses than building new houses when there are still houses that
need to be refurbished and the utilities need to be upgraded.
I am very pleased to report that I spoke to the new federal
Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion. He, fortunately, could
almost be a Western Australian. As a Northern Territorian, he is close to
Western Australia. Given that he ran the Pancontinental mine just outside
Kalgoorlie for some years, maybe he is an honorary Western Australian. He
understands the issues in WA. He has released the $76 million and he has agreed
to sit down with me in the next 12 months to nut out a decent program, with
flexibility for a more cost-effective delivery of houses and refurbished houses
to Indigenous communities throughout Western Australia.
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