Act... 

Subject: Healthy Homelands need new housing — close the policy gap

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Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy
Minister for Indigenous Australians

Ms Julie-Ann Guivarra
Chief Executive Officer
National Indigenous Australians Agency

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Dear Minister McCarthy and Ms Guivarra,

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I am writing to support the Healthy Homelands – Healthy People campaign and to ask the Australian Government to ensure that Homelands are included fairly in the future of remote housing.

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Families should be able to live safely on their own Country.

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Homelands are not marginal or temporary places. They are living communities where culture, language, kinship, ceremony and responsibility for Country are maintained. When Homelands have safe housing, reliable water and power, sanitation, roads, health access and ongoing essential services, they can support stronger families, better health, cultural continuity and local economic opportunity.

However, there remains a serious gap in government housing policy.

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While funding is available for some repairs, maintenance and infrastructure upgrades on Homelands, there is still no clear, dedicated and properly funded pathway for new and replacement homes. Repairs are important, but they cannot meet the needs of growing families, replace houses that have reached the end of their useful life or allow people to return safely to Country.

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I therefore call on the Australian Government, working with the Northern Territory Government and the Joint Steering Committee for Remote Housing NT, to establish a:

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Dedicated, ring-fenced Homelands New Housing and Enabling Infrastructure Stream.

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This stream should:

- fund new and replacement homes on eligible Homelands
- fund the water, power, sewerage, roads and site works needed to support those homes;
- guarantee recurrent maintenance and essential-service funding from the beginning;
- be co-designed with Homelands organisations, Traditional Owners, Land Councils, Aboriginal Housing NT and Aboriginal community-controlled    organisations;
- prioritise Aboriginal-controlled planning and delivery; and
- create local Aboriginal jobs, training, businesses and long-term maintenance capacity.

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This is not a request to take housing away from larger remote communities. Those communities also urgently need housing.

It is a request to end the exclusion of Homelands from the housing future.

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Investment should be carefully planned and based on cultural authority, community priorities, technical feasibility, health benefits and the capacity to maintain housing and infrastructure over the long term. This is a practical and achievable reform.

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Housing is more than construction. Safe and functional housing is health infrastructure. It supports family safety, reduces overcrowding and preventable illness, strengthens culture and helps people exercise self-determination in a practical way.

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I ask you to publicly support this reform and commit to:

1  placing the proposal formally before the Joint Steering Committee for Remote Housing NT;
2 developing a policy and investment framework with the Homelands sector;
3 protecting existing repairs, maintenance and community housing funding;
4 establishing a clear timetable for implementation; and
5 providing a public written response to the Homelands Alliance.

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The Australian Government has made major commitments to remote housing. The job is not complete while Homelands remain largely restricted to repairs and upgrades and families are denied a pathway to new homes on their Country.

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Please finish the job, close the policy gap and put homes back on Homelands.

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Healthy Homelands need healthy housing policy.

Healthy housing policy must include new homes on Homelands.

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Yours sincerely,

[Full name]
[Community, organisation or suburb]
[State or territory and postcode]
[Email address]