After yet another Australian political blunder, we are wishing more now than ever that we could swap our government out with our friends across the sea, as their failure to tend to Indigenous affairs and meet very minimal housing targets has us outraged.
Is it any wonder that Indigenous communities, especially in remote and rural areas, have very little faith in the government to follow through on their promises?
Politician Michael Gunner has been left red-faced after failing to adhere to his promise of $110 million per year, for extensions, upgrades, repairs, and new homes in Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory.
“It’s critical we get housing right; it’s the main physical disruption to healthy people, to mental wellbeing, to getting kids to school, to getting people trained and to work, we have to get it right when it comes to housing,” Gunner said prior to Labor winning the electorate, in which funding for Indigenous housing programs and initiatives were a key aspect of their campaign.
Now, in a recent assessment and report holding the government accountable to their funding allocations, it turns out that they have failed horrendously. Surprise surprise. We wish we could bring you more good news stories when it comes to Indigenous affairs, but it seems to be few and far between.
So how bad exactly are we talking when it comes to this most recent political blunder? Pretty badly. In summary:
- $330 million should have been spent on the program over the first three years, not even a third of which has been delivered
- New housing for local Indigenous employees was a key part of the scheme, three years into the program, not a single local Aboriginal recruit has moved in
- The government failed to report on anywhere near its target of building a minimum of 600 additional rooms per year due in response to a rampant overcrowding crisis that is decades in the making
- 1800 rooms should have been delivered by now if the funding was given where promised
But failures in housing are nothing new. And it isn’t an issue of Labor Government, it’s an issue of government full stop, who continue to fail improving outcomes for some of Australia’s most vulnerable communities.
All these “Aussies” who bitch about #Indigenous funding $$.
LOOK AT THIS SHIT!!
How is Australia’s govt building tin sheds with no windows as “housing” in 2018!! Who approved this?? Name & shame them https://t.co/PIJDI5FKFF via @ABCNews #auspol #Aboriginal #housingcrisis
— StoneFishHugger (@mnxmoosi) March 2, 2018
A spokesperson from the government said that a “holistic” approach is to blame for the f*uck up. We’re just left wondering where the rest of that $330 million has gone?
