National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:53): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Human Services a question in relation to housing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: The National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing expired on 30 June 2018 and, despite repeated questions in this chamber, we are still no wiser as to the status of any possible new agreement. Importantly, Aboriginal communities in this state have an enormous cloud of uncertainty over them and the future of their housing security.

In 2017, the review into the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing recommended that a new agreement should be, at a minimum, five years and a funding split of fifty-fifty between the federal and state governments. In answer to a question on 26 July 2018, the Minister for Human Services assured the chamber that there was adequate funding for the 2018-19 financial year due to unspent federal money in this program. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister now advise the chamber exactly how much unspent federal money is available for remote Aboriginal housing in 2018-19?

2. What approval processes were undertaken to carry over such unspent federal money in the years in which they were not allocated for?

3. Can the minister outline what conversations she has personally had with any representative from the federal government since the last sitting day of parliament? In particular, can she confirm if a formal funding offer was made from the commonwealth government, what was the time period for that formal funding offer from the commonwealth government and what was the funding split from the formal offer from the commonwealth government?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for his question and for his ongoing interest in this important area. As I did state, I think on the last sitting day before the winter break, there is provision in relation to funding that is available on an ongoing basis for remote housing, which means that the desperate urgency that he has claimed—I might note that the desperate urgency failed to exist under the previous Labor government for well over a year to transact an agreement with the commonwealth. They failed on any measure really, which I have outlined to this place a number of times.

My agency has advised me that there is adequate funding on an ongoing basis for remote housing until the negotiations are concluded. The details of the negotiations, I once again state that I am not going to go through those in detail until they are concluded. Those will be made publicly available in due course, which I am hoping will be concluded soon.