27 October 2010, Convention Centre, Melbourne WA
National Community Legal Centre’s 2010 Conference ‘Breaking New Ground’
Presented by Ms. Tammy Solonec, Managing Solicitor
Law and Advocacy Unit, Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA)
Housing in remote Aboriginal communities of Western Australia (WA) is in a dire state (and has been for some time), sparking international concern.
For many years community housing in remote communities was primarily managed by Indigenous Community Housing Organisations (ICHOs) and primarily funded through the Commonwealth Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP). In 2007, CHIP and to some extent the ICHOs were labelled a failure. Since then, the Government has been attempting to overhaul remote Aboriginal housing.
The National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (NPARIH) is providing the new direction for remote Aboriginal housing with $5.5 billion in funding.
In WA, the NPARIH is being implemented via the Aboriginal Housing Legislation Amendment Act 2010 (WA), which allows the WA Department of Housing to deliver housing in remote communities and will see the application of the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (WA) in such communities for the first time.
This seminar provided an analysis of the situation of remote housing in WA past, present and future and bought what has been an ‘out of sight and out of mind’ scenario to the attention of the Community Legal Centre sector.
