Chapter 4Housing in Northern Australia - Issues and solutions
4.1As noted in the committee's Issues Paper, many businesses in Northern Australia have reported that they face challenges not just filling skills shortages, but to an equal extent, locating housing for the people offered positions to fill those skills shortages, whether from other parts of Australia or migrants. Whilst larger sectors like mining and government are able to offer subsidised housing, smaller businesses, in particular, are not.
4.2At the same time, many residents of Northern Australia—particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples—face unprecedented levels of overcrowding that hampers workforce participation.
4.3Further, the committee heard that the housing that does exist in many parts of Northern Australia is not sufficient for the region's existing workforce, let alone the additional workforce needed to fill skills shortages. Housing that is being built is, in many instances, simply replacing existing housing rather than adding to stock.
4.4This evidence mirrors the findings of other reports and inquiries. For example, the Australian Government's recently released Employment White Paper noted that 'a lack of housing options is a barrier to attracting workers'. Submissions to the White Paper highlighted issues with attracting and retaining workers in regional areas because of a lack of adequate and affordable housing. Similarly, the 2022 Local Government Workforce Skills and Capability Survey found that the two most significant impacts on workforce development across Australia in 2022 were the COVID-19 pandemic and housing pressures.
4.5As outlined in chapter 3, there are numerous initiatives to address the affordability and availability of housing across Australia. However, these programs operate nationally. Without targeted initiatives to address housing in Northern Australia, the issues with housing will likely remain ongoing.
4.6This chapter examines how the negative externalities associated with a lack of suitable housing may undermine economic growth in Northern Australia in the immediate future. It focuses on:
general housing issues raised in Northern Australia;
evidence about housing in remote Indigenous communities;
potential solutions to housing issues; and
the committee's view and recommendations.
Issues raised about housing in Northern Australia
4.7As outlined in the committee's Issues Paper, reiterated in subsequent evidence to the committee, and set out in other sources, the reasons given for issues with housing availability and affordability in Northern Australia include:
high construction and maintenance costs;[7]
local environmental conditions, including extended wet seasons that prevent significant construction work from taking place;[8]
the cost of building houses may not reflect the price that the house will actually sell for on the current market, with builders in some parts of Northern Australia being unable to recoup the cost of construction and in some instances losing up to 20 per cent of their investment costs;[9]
a growing population (although it should be noted that Northern Australia's population base is growing at a slower rate than the population of the rest of Australia);[10]
residents of cities moving to regional areas during the pandemic, leading to increases in house prices and decreased housing availability;[11]
long-term declines in interstate mobility, which is particularly relevant for the construction industry, which is seasonal and location-specific;[12]
land tenure issues arising for land subject to cultural heritage laws, as outlined in further detail later in this chapter;
the availability and affordability of insurance;[13]
high council and state government charges for new development approvals;[14] and
governments and some industries offering subsidised housing for their employees, in some instances by using the local rental market, leading to decreased supply for other renters.[15]
4.8Some of these reasons are discussed in more detail below.
Native title and cultural heritage law restrictions
4.9An issue raised as contributing to a lack of housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was land availability issues, depending on the region. Different parts of Northern Australia are subject to different cultural heritage laws, including state legislation and the Commonwealth's Native Title Act 1993 and the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Further detail on land tenure issues in local areas that the committee visited during site visits can be found in Appendix 1.
4.10The committee heard that in the Roper Gulf region, for example, '[y]ou just can't go into a real estate agent and buy a block of land to actually build a house'. The Chief Executive Officer of the Roper Gulf Regional Council, Mr Marc Gardner, explained land tenure issues in further detail:
In our big council area we've got 13 or 14 towns and communities. The majority of those are on Aboriginal land, and therefore the Northern Territory government, when they build new housing on new subdivisions, need to go through the Northern Land Council to get approvals and then to take out what they call section 19 leases under section 19 of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act mechanism. That provides a lease for a period of time. Most of those leases are very short term.
Private enterprise can undertake a similar process and take out a section 19 lease—but, again, there are risks from a business point of view about private enterprise, owning that land and the value of that land. There is no value to it—why would anyone go and build a shop or a business on top of that land when it can't be bought or sold? …Therefore, there's no real investment in industry or enterprise on Aboriginal land.
4.11In particular, land tenure may affect bank financing for housing and infrastructure projects, because a bank may be unable to sell property subject to native title. Mr Gardner further outlined that some private investors and Indigenous people themselves who want to buy or sell their homes cannot approach banks for loans because:
They've got no ability to. There's no value to it. That's why there's a high reliance on the government to provide that housing for them and for the government to provide assistance with everything that occurs in those communities.
Government ownership
4.12The committee heard that in Broome, government policy could compromise access to affordable housing for the private sector. In particular, according to the Shire of Broome, the state government has:
…increased their land holdings or dwelling rentals by at least 30 in 12 months, and they go straight to the real estate agents and are offered houses prior to anybody else being able to obtain those houses. The lack of investment in building new houses because the critical issue is building costs—the state government can afford to be burdened with those building costs but the private sector can't—and their lack of building new houses over the last 10 years is costing the town dearly. They will go in and offer prices 10 per cent above what the rental price is offered at because they can, because they need to secure houses for government workers. We need those government workers—we're not saying they shouldn't be participating in the market—but they need to be building houses.
4.13According to Regional Development Australia Kimberley, Australian Government ownership of houses in Broome may also be 'pushing up the rents' by 'preventing the private sector people from coming in and being able to buy a house'. The committee also heard that some federal and state government agencies in Western Australia may be using the rental market to house their staff.
High construction and maintenance costs
4.14The committee heard that more new dwellings need to be built to improve housing affordability in Northern Australia. However, the development of new housing has been impeded by the high cost and limited availability of labour and materials.
4.15The Local Government Association of Queensland told the committee that construction costs were 'an ongoing challenge' in rural and remote parts of Queensland, attributing this to the 'tyranny of distance, high transport costs and the skills and material shortages, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic'.
4.16In Broome, the Shire of Broome warned that 'unless we can find a way to offset rising housing construction costs and transport costs, then we're not going to see significant volumes of housing being built'. The committee also was informed that in Weipa in Queensland, freight costs can add 50 to 60 per cent to estimates of building costs.
4.17In some parts of Northern Australia, the cost of building a house versus the price that it will actually sell for on the current market means that builders may lose up to 20 per cent of their investment. In other words, builders may be unable to recoup the cost of construction, providing a disincentive for new developments.
4.18Maintaining existing houses in remote areas of Northern Australia is similarly expensive. A 2021 report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute used life-cycle costs analysis to estimate the costs incurred to construct and maintain Indigenous housing. It estimated that:
remote housing construction is 1.7 times greater than capital city costs;
very remote housing construction is two times greater than capital city costs;
remote housing operating and maintenance costs are three times greater than capital cities; and
very remote housing operating and maintenance costs are three times greater than remote regions.
4.19The report found that over time construction costs are relatively minor in comparison to ongoing operation and maintenance costs for remote and very remote Indigenous housing, which may inform potential policy for housing reform.
4.20In response to a question about construction costs and labour shortages in Northern Australia, Mr Robert Raether, First Assistant Secretary of the Housing Division in the Department of the Treasury, noted:
With some of the shipping disruptions that occurred because of the situation in Ukraine but also because of the pandemic, a lot of shipping costs went up quite significantly. The construction sector was reporting very large increases in the price of steel and in the price of timber... That has particularly acute impacts on remote and regional areas to the extent that it feeds through to the price of fuel and to the price of freight. We also saw some labour shortages during the pandemic. We had lots of evidence from people about the cost of bricklayers going up significantly, and labour shortages…
Some of those things are unwinding at the moment. Shipping costs have come down, some of the timber costs and the steel costs have also moderated, but we're certainly aware that there are some particular challenges with the more remote areas in terms of getting access to that scarce labour. They might find it a bit more profitable, from their personal point of view, to be located in an urban area where the work is a bit more regular in that sense.
4.21Although construction activity was at a record high in mid-2022, labour shortages were affecting the construction industry, particularly in Western Australia. According to the Housing Industry Association, 'the shortage of skilled trades is the number one constraint on Australian builders'. Master Builders Australia has estimated that the building and construction industry will need an additional 486 000 new workers by the end of 2026 to meet demand and replace retirees.
4.22There has been a jump in employment in the construction industry since 2021 compared with pre-pandemic employment levels, with the number of workers growing by 9.3 per cent (113 500 workers) between May 2022 and May 2023 (Figure 3.7). Even so, the major employing occupations in construction are still experiencing shortages, and are expected to be subject to ongoing and increased future demand.
Issues specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
4.23As outlined in Chapter 3 of the Issues Paper Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have significantly less access to affordable, secure and quality housing. For example, in the Northern Territory, only 43 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were appropriately housed in 2021, compared to 81 per cent nationally.
4.24As noted by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation poor quality housing and overcrowding may 'directly contribute to poor health outcomes, including trachoma, otitis media, scabies, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease'.
4.25A number of witnesses gave testimony as to the harms associated with poor quality housing, inadequate access to housing and overcrowding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on local labour mobility. The Central Land Council (CLC), for example, told the committee that there remains a 'substantial shortfall in housing supply in our remote communities', and estimated that a further 2000 new homes would be needed to reach the Northern Territory's Closing the Gap target of reducing overcrowding to 18 per cent.
4.26According to the Kimberley Land Council, inadequate housing can dissuade Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 'people from seeking work, turning up each day and maintaining meaningful employment'.
4.27For some, the proximity of available housing and the inability to transit to and from a workplace dissuades participation. Ms Alison Jacks from the JawoynAssociation, which runs CDPs for remote communities near Katherine in the Northern Territory, noted:
You've also got your stock standard issue with land availability along with accommodation transport, which is a major issue as well around getting people into the community. I have staff at Jawoyn that want to live in town to be closer to work, but they can't get rental accommodation.
4.28Ms Jacks further stated that she felt overcrowded housing 'is a very big issue with employment', given sleep interruptions for household members who have to attend work the next day. The Chief Executive Officer of the Roper Gulf Regional Council flagged that a further impact of overcrowded houses is low school attendance, given children may not have somewhere to sleep at night while other family members are sleeping.
4.29A representative from West Arnhem Regional Council outlined the above point in greater detail:
Anecdotally, I can tell you we find that there might be upwards of 11 to 18 people in a house, and I had the same issue when I was at Barkly. It happened, and I don't want to harp on it, but you would see kids out at night in Barkly, for example, and they were sitting under a tree opposite the servo. Everyone thinks they're bad. They're not bad; it's not their turn to sleep, and it's 11 o'clock at night, so they go home at four o'clock.
4.30Mr Alan Mole, the Chief Executive Officer of Kalano Community Association, similarly noted:
…if you look at the housing needs and the overcrowding, how do you get a job and then get up at eight o'clock in the morning when 15 people are living in a dysfunctional house? How does a child get up in the morning, go to school, and get a good education? How do old people with health problems get better if they're stressed all the time and living on a bunk bed in the back of the yard around a smoky fire?
…I don't think you people realise how hard it is to break away from your family, especially in Katherine—there is no housing—and especially if you've just turned 19 and have just started your job. [The Community Development Program] can support you for the first two weeks with rent, but where are they meant to go? There is no housing. The cheapest house you'll get in Katherine right now for a one-bedroom is $350-$400.
4.31In community, the committee heard that, despite government efforts, there is insufficient housing in remote Northern Territory communities. For example, Ms Theresa Roe from Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory noted that:
The government's really slow in building these new houses. They've got some programs in place, but it's still very slow and not keeping up with the demand, and it's really having a serious impact on a lot of families—mental health, stress, food security. Most of our people are on welfare. We have generations of young people coming through that are living with their grandparents and so forth. They can't get access to a house. That's the reason for this overcrowding. There are so many in the house because there aren't enough houses to meet the demand.
4.32The Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development submitted that whilst collaboration occurs between State and Federal Governments in terms of joint-funding initiatives, they 'can have implementation issues in Northern Australia'.
4.33The Nirrumbuk Aboriginal Corporation suggested that Commonwealth-state relations were a key 'bugbear that's bigger than any of us in the community', whether funding for housing or employment. To put this another way, there are challenges with convincing state governments to invest in Indigenous affairs, given the Commonwealth's historical role.
Other issues
4.34Other interrelated issues were raised by witnesses. For example, MsAlisonSmith, the Chief Executive Officer of the Local Government Association of Queensland, flagged that in northern and western Queensland:
…there is a term called postcode discrimination that mayors use, and they use that to apply to the circumstance when members of their community are being told by the banking sector that they either will not loan them the money to buy a house or, if they do, will insist on a very significant deposit, and we've had anecdotal feedback that it can range as high as 60 per cent. Our mayors call that postcode discrimination because it's banks supplying a particular criteria for an area which they may or may not deem as being more risky than others. That is singularly disadvantaging those communities across northern Queensland.
4.35Some evidence flagged the link between childcare staff shortages, broader workforce shortages and housing. For example, the Deputy Shire President of the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley informed the committee:
We have 174 people on our waiting list for childcare. That's typically 174 mothers at home, where the husband is working and the mother can't, because she can't get childcare. If those 174 mothers could get childcare, they could go to work. They don't require a house. They already have a house. You'd save on 174 houses. At the moment, we have 174 people filling those jobs that have had to come into town. If we could fix the childcare issue, we would go, I believe, in the small communities like ours, a long way to not resolving but easing the housing crisis.
4.36It should be noted that this inquiry received evidence about other factors that may impact the affordability of housing in Northern Australia. These could include, for example, the fact that some families may be forced to live on a single income. This decision may be affected by a shortage of childcare places or lack of schools, requiring one parent to supervise remote learning for children enrolled in distance education. As a result, employers in occupations in which a parent, who already has established housing, would have otherwise been able to work are then required to seek people from outside the region to fill skills shortages.[49]
Options for reform
4.37The committee heard about a number of initiatives to address concerns discussed above, thereby easing a key contributor to workforce shortages. The options consider reform across Northern Australia in broad terms, but also considers those relating specifically to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The following outlines a number of these proposals.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific reform
4.38Evidence to the committee emphasised the potential for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to fill workforce shortages in Northern Australia, as opposed to a temporary external workforce. To that end, stable housing that is not overcrowded is key to ensuring that the local Indigenous workforce is best placed to engage in such work. The committee heard some options on how to address and encourage such an outcome.
4.39The Deputy Shire President of the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley called for more transitional housing, explaining the benefits of transitional housing as follows:
If an Aboriginal person is in full-time employment or full-time study, they'll find them a house and say: 'Okay, we've got a house for you and your immediate family. The rules are we'll give you a really good rent and there's the potential that you will be able to buy the house sometime in the future, but you're the only people living there.' When the extended family come to town and decide, 'They've got a house. We're moving in there and we're going to party in there,' you take the problem off the person, because they feel uncomfortable telling their family they can't stay with them. If the householder or manager is telling them that, that gives them the opportunity to be left alone… getting their family into a better place.
4.40The Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley told the committee that they had been pursuing 'a tripartite investment' involving funding contributions from the Shire, the state government and the Australian Government to build affordable housing to house workers in low-paid jobs in areas like retail and childcare.
4.41Mr Mark Hewitt from the Anindilyakwa Land Council informed the committee of a local initiative on Groote Island to improve housing supply:
What we've done over a long time is develop an archipelago housing master plan where we identified land that was serviced that we could infill with houses. We've spent over $50 million of royalty moneys building best-practice houses suitable for Groote conditions so they'll last a long time, maybe 30 years. We've done a deal with the Territory government, with the support of the Australian government—the National Partnership Agreement—to make up the balance of houses that are required to reach parity with the rest of Australia. That's a pretty big program. It's well over $85 million. We're actually topping up with our royalties to reach the standard of house that we want, that locals have embraced and designed themselves, and that's controlled by one Aboriginal housing corporation… In five years the job will be finished. We can't really do it any faster because of cashflow and workforce issues… We've got two Aboriginal corporations that work for [outside contractors] on the island that build houses. One of them has young people working and doing basic construction training on the job.
4.42Mr Jerome Cubillo from the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network noted that there 'are some really great Aboriginal businesses who are working in the housing space and sector', winning remote work and employing members of local communities. Ms Roe also provided an example of a housing construction program in remote New South Wales:
They got the contract to build all these houses. They had to be built by local people, plus some other tradies had to come in. All the training was done on site. They brought in demountables and they set up training rooms. I think they had about 20 houses to build or something. But everything was done on site, and it was a really good outcome. It went for so many years—I think it went for about five years—so people had time to start apprenticeships and those sorts of training programs and complete them. They didn't have to leave their communities. I think we could be innovative and trial some of that…
4.43Ms Alison Jacks from the Jawoyn Association pointed to transportable container homes as one solution to a lack of housing in remote communities:
…there is that ability, with the changes to technology, for all those container homes, which are great little set-ups. They're transportable, they're cheap and they're easy to erect. I think looking down that line might be a thing.
4.44However, whilst acknowledging the benefits of modular housing, the CLC noted an unintended consequence of pursuing such a model has been ‘a shift away from local community labour to urban labour in centres like AliceSprings’.
4.45Related to this, the CLC noted that the need for ongoing housing repairs and maintenance works ‘presents a huge opportunity for local Aboriginal employment and enterprise development over the long term’. At present however, the CLC submitted that few Aboriginal community-controlled organisations [are] successfully tendering’ for repair and maintenance contracts.
4.46The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation agreed with this sentiment, submitting that:
There is also a clear need for localised housing maintenance workforce requiring trade skilled workers including as carpenters, plumbers and electricians.
4.47The Northern Land Council (NLC) noted this opportunity to jointly address both housing and workforce development:
The roll-out of the remote housing program in the NT offers an outstanding opportunity for local Aboriginal employment and enterprise development. The investment of $1.1b over five years into new and upgraded homes in 73 remote NT communities and 17 Alice Springs Town Camps, together with the Australian Government’s recent commitment of $100 million for homelands, provides significant opportunity for training, employment and enterprise development across many industries for local Aboriginal people. The transferable skills gained by local Aboriginal people in these trades and services would have lasting impacts, with people able to be active participants in a growing NT economy.
The NLC is currently engaging with Traditional Owners and other stakeholders to determine their future aspirations and capacity to take on management of housing related service delivery. The establishment of Aboriginal community-controlled corporations or businesses provides opportunity for local Aboriginal people to be trained and employed in the building and construction of new houses, provision of repairs and maintenance services to existing homes, and management of tenancies through property and tenancy management. In addition, supporting services and enterprises such as fencing, plant nurseries, gardening services, cleaning businesses and municipal services could be developed.
4.48Other proposed reforms that target Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples included:
increased funding from the Australian Government for regional and remote housing through the National Partnership for Remote Housing in the Northern Territory;
establishing and building a local housing maintenance workforce from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, including carpenters, plumbers and electricians;[62]
engagement with Traditional Owners and other stakeholders in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to take over managing housing-related service delivery; and
increased funding for homelands, given residents may move into overcrowded community housing with families because their homelands do not have access to basic amenities, such as power and drinking water, and/or are unliveable and not fit-for-purpose.
Other proposals for reform
4.49As outlined in Chapter 1, there are many government policies and programs that address housing across federal, state and territory, as well as local government jurisdictions. The committee heard that consistency, unity, and cohesion across these initiatives would be essential to successful workforce attraction and retention strategies in Northern Australia.
4.50The Western Australia Department of Training and Workforce Development submitted that across Western Australia ‘collaboration on industry, skills, and workforce development matters across Northern Western Australia tends to be more joined-up’ due to extensive relations between State and Local Government officials. The Department made two pertinent recommendations.
4.51It first recommended for the development of a collaborative Regional Infrastructure Strategy, noting that ‘from a planning perspective’ such a strategy may address some housing infrastructure issues.
4.52The Department’s second recommendation was for the establishment of a Regional Infrastructure Fund, which would be invested in by all levels of government. The fund would:
…support the skilling and employment of local youth, under-represented groups and unemployed on residential, commercial and civil construction projects to provide additional housing and community and industry infrastructure to support economic growth in the regions.
4.53Other solutions in evidence proposed to address issues with housing affordability and availability included:
additional tax offsets or benefits associated with housing costs;
increased funding and grants for remote councils to invest in key infrastructure, including staff housing;
construction and maintenance to be carried out through local organisations with the support of job services provision;
increased investment in infrastructure to support housing development;
on-farm accommodation to house agricultural workers, with incentives from government to help farmers develop such accommodation;[72] and
an audit on the number of houses that the Australian Government owns or rents for its employees.
Committee view
4.54Housing availability and affordability are global and national issues, as outlined in Chapter 3, and are beyond the scope of the committee to address. Indeed, the committee notes that the federal, state and territory governments are currently prioritising housing at the national and state levels, and there are multiple reforms underway to improve housing supply and affordability. However, these reforms do not specifically target Northern Australia.
4.55The committee was repeatedly told that access to appropriate and affordable housing is the number one issue affecting the ability of employers in Northern Australia to recruit and attract an outside workforce to fill skills shortages. Current housing stock is not sufficient to meet current demand, let alone future demand. Housing shortages are affecting decisions of locals to remain in areas, and it is impacting the ability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in overcrowded conditions to engage in the workforce and impacting health outcomes. This is not a recent issue.
4.56As noted in Chapter 3, nine of the top ten most socio-economically disadvantaged Local Government Areas in Australia are located in NorthernAustralia, and most of the Northern Territory is classed as being among the most socio-economically disadvantaged areas in Australia. Overcrowding in the Northern Territory is a major issue. In remote CentralAustralia, for example, the committee heard that homes may have up to 18 people living in them.
4.57As such, the provision of appropriate and affordable housing is central not just to workforce development, but the development of Northern Australia as a whole. The committee considers that reforms to address long-standing issues with housing in Northern Australia are long overdue, and calls on the Australian Government to prioritise housing as part of its Northern Australia agenda.
4.58The key issues associated with housing in Northern Australia relate to a lack of housing stock. As discussed in this chapter, Northern Australia has particular challenges associated with construction, including:
construction projects being limited to the dry season;
extreme weather events happening on a semi-regular basis, leading to destruction of buildings;
increased costs for construction materials, because of long distances required to transport materials;
land availability, arising often because of land tenure issues; and
labour shortages, which may arise because of:
- a limited local construction workforce;
- few incentives for an interstate labour force to travel to Northern Australia; and
- recently reduced interstate mobility, especially with a nation-wide shortage of labour in the construction industry and competition for a limited number of staff.
- The committee's recommendations on these matters are set out below.
Increased costs of construction materials
4.60The evidence the committee received indicated that housing stock will not improve in Northern Australia without ways to address the cost of construction materials, given that builders in some parts of the region are unable to recoup their costs in the current market.
4.61The committee notes that there has been a recent spike in the cost of construction materials in Australia. In addition, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a global shortage of construction materials. These conditions alone have driven up the cost of construction materials in metropolitan areas, before factoring in the cost of transporting materials to Northern Australia. Further, it appears unlikely that transport costs will improve in the near future, given rising global fuel prices.
4.62As a first step, the committee is of the view that the Australian Government, in conjunction with the state and territory governments of Northern Australia, should examine ways to introduce incentives for modular homes to be built in regional centres and transported to rural and remote parts of NorthernAustralia. This should be an interim measure only, and form part of a multi-pronged strategy to address issues with housing in the region (below), given the imperative for workforce initiatives to build up a local construction workforce. Given housing is a priority of National Cabinet, the committee also urges the Australian Government to bring this issue to the Northern Australia Ministerial Forum and to other appropriate intergovernmental meetings.
4.63The committee recommends the Australian Government, in conjunction with the state and territory governments for Northern Australia, consider ways to provide incentives for appropriate modular homes to be built to address the immediate housing crisis in Northern Australia.
Issues with land availability and land tenure
4.64As noted in Chapter 3, Australia's current housing crisis is due in part to issues with planning restrictions. In metropolitan areas, these issues appear to be related largely to government zoning and development approvals. However, evidence indicated that in Northern Australia, issues related to land approvals often relate to cultural heritage laws. The committee heard that in some instances, cultural heritage laws are impacting the development of remote communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples may be unable to secure bank financing for housing and infrastructure projects, because a bank has no collateral (land) that it could sell in the event of a loan being forfeited. Private investors may also be unable to secure finance, even if they are able to negotiate land use agreements.
4.65Different parts of Australia are subject to different pieces of cultural heritage legislation under the laws of the states and territories, in addition to the Commonwealth's Native Title Act 1993 and the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The committee acknowledges these significant challenges, however, notes that matters relating to land tenure are beyond the scope of this inquiry.
Regional solutions to address labour shortages
4.66The committee notes that labour shortages are affecting the construction industry at the national level, with the number one issue constraining Australian builders being a shortage of skilled trades. This creates challenges for NorthernAustralia to both retain its existing skilled workforce, and attract a skilled workforce from other parts of Australia. While modular homes, as recommended above, are a worthwhile short-term solution to the region's immediate housing crisis, the committee acknowledges that they are unlikely to contribute to workforce development in remote areas.
4.67The committee is of the view that labour shortages in Northern Australia can be addressed in several ways. The first of these is a Regional Infrastructure Fund, contributed to by all levels of government, which would help to support local employment on residential, commercial and civil construction projects. Second, a Regional Infrastructure Strategy, developed with the states and territories, which should address, in particular, labour shortages in regional, rural and remote areas. The committee recognises that individual federal, state and territory-based schemes may not be the most effective and efficient approach to address the housing shortfall. The committee notes the ongoing work of the Office of Northern Australia to address challenges in the region, and considers that the Office may be best-placed to coordinate policy advice on what such a Strategy should include.
4.68The third solution is to develop a local housing workforce from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. While it is clear that the housing shortage poses challenges to workforce development in Northern Australia, it also presents opportunities to train, develop and maintain a building and construction workforce in Northern Australia to help address the labour shortage.
4.69The committee heard of local-based projects where this has already occurred, with some success–but with a lack of ongoing career opportunities, local workforces have subsequently moved to other parts of Australia in search of work. The committee considers that the Australian Government, through the National Indigenous Australians Agency, should consider ways in which to encourage and provide long-term funding for projects that would train Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for local construction projects in Northern Australia, both building and maintenance.
4.70This process should include consultation with local communities to ensure that projects are tailored to local conditions, while skilling up local workforces who could move across Northern Australia. The committee notes that the Australian Government is currently considering what should replace the Community Development Program, and that the National Partnership for Remote Housing in the Northern Territory has now ended. The committee encourages the Australian Government to implement the reforms recommended here as part of the Government's review of both processes.
4.71The committee recommends the Australian Government develop a Northern Australia focused Regional Infrastructure Strategy with state, territory and local governments. This Strategy should focus, as a matter of priority, on how to address skilled labour shortages, ensure there is a sustainable pipeline of infrastructure, and on building the housing and construction industry in regional areas.
4.72The committee recommends the Australian Government, in conjunction with states and territories, explore options for a Regional Infrastructure Fund – or similar mechanism. Such a fund could be contributed too by all levels of government, to focus on supporting local employment in social, residential, commercial and civil construction projects. This fund would focus more broadly on social infrastructure differing from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
4.73The committee recommends the Australian Government consider ways to fund and support long-term projects that train and employ local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on housing construction and maintenance projects in Northern Australia. This process should be co-designed with communities to ensure that funding and projects are tailored to local circumstances.
Final comment on housing in Northern Australia
4.74Issues with attracting and retaining a workforce in Northern Australia are two‑fold: people are leaving the region, and people are not moving there. In other words, even if people did not leave Northern Australia, the region would still experience skills shortages. Housing is the first major impediment affecting workforce development, but by no means the only one.
4.75The committee recognises that housing availability and affordability are national issues that require national initiatives, many of which are already underway. However, the housing issues in Northern Australia are both acute and unique, and as such, require focused attention and tailored solutions. It is essential that Northern Australian voices are listened to and not drowned out in an already loud field highlighting the need for housing reform across many parts of Australia, particularly metropolitan areas.
4.76Without investment to address housing shortages in Northern Australia, more and more people will leave the region and likely move to metropolitan areas, contributing to increased demand for housing in cities; and decreased development in the parts of Australia that are regional powerhouses for their contributions to the mining, agricultural and tourism sectors.
4.77For these reasons, the committee calls on the Australian Government to prioritise its response to the above recommendations and to urgently commence reforms to address the issues outlined in this report.
4.78It is clear, from submissions and the first round of public hearings, that reform is needed to address a lack of other social structures in Northern Australia, such as childcare, education and health services. The committee intends to examine these issues, and discuss potential solutions, in future reports, and invites relevant stakeholders to provide targeted submissions with proposals for reform in these areas.
Ms Marion ScrymgourMP
Chair