4 years ago
FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE NEED A PLAN TO ADDRESS OVERCROWDING
JASON CLARE MP
Indigenous Australians make up three per cent of the Australian population, but accounted for 20 per cent of all persons who were homeless at the last census.
This Homelessness Week, Labor is calling on the Morrison Government to outline a plan to address severe overcrowding in First Nations communities across Australia.
The Morrison Government knows how important this is. The high rates of overcrowded dwellings in First Nations communities was included in the recently revised Closing the Gap targets - to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing to 88 per cent by 2031.
But there are no details about how the Morrison Government will achieve this target.
Adequate housing is a crucial step to support the health and economic outcomes of First Nation communities.
The Morrison Government should also deliver its $105 million election promise for crucial remote and regional housing funding in Queensland.
On 8 May 2019, the Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch and former Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion promised First Nation communities in Queensland $105 million to be provided “directly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Councils to fund remote Indigenous housing”.
Fifteen months since it was announced, the Morrison Government has delivered just 4.7 per cent of this funding. This is not good enough.
Housing is a basic human right and it is unacceptable that these communities are still waiting.
Labor is also calling on the Government to invest in the construction of social housing across the country. This would be a win-win. It will keep more tradies working and it will help solve the crisis of overcrowding in First Nations communities.
This Homelessness Week, Labor is calling on the Morrison Government to outline a plan to address severe overcrowding in First Nations communities across Australia.
The Morrison Government knows how important this is. The high rates of overcrowded dwellings in First Nations communities was included in the recently revised Closing the Gap targets - to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing to 88 per cent by 2031.
But there are no details about how the Morrison Government will achieve this target.
Adequate housing is a crucial step to support the health and economic outcomes of First Nation communities.
The Morrison Government should also deliver its $105 million election promise for crucial remote and regional housing funding in Queensland.
On 8 May 2019, the Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch and former Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion promised First Nation communities in Queensland $105 million to be provided “directly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Councils to fund remote Indigenous housing”.
Fifteen months since it was announced, the Morrison Government has delivered just 4.7 per cent of this funding. This is not good enough.
Housing is a basic human right and it is unacceptable that these communities are still waiting.
Labor is also calling on the Government to invest in the construction of social housing across the country. This would be a win-win. It will keep more tradies working and it will help solve the crisis of overcrowding in First Nations communities.