Indigenous city housing scrapped

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough said yesterday indigenous housing was being rorted and that he wanted a system based not on the colour of people's skin but rather on how much money they had.

He said he was drafting a proposal to redirect the money to remote Aboriginal housing instead, abolishing Aboriginal-specific public housing in cities.

While Labor and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner Tom Calma attacked the move as unfair, Mr Brough, who has recently completed a review of Aboriginal public housing, said the system was being abused.

"What I'm saying is that you should be judged on your economic circumstances if you are living in urban Australia and not the colour of your skin," Mr Brough said.

Under the proposal, more than 600 Indigenous Community Housing Organisations in cities would no longer receive public money to buy more houses or maintain their existing stock.

Labor indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jenny Macklin accused the Howard Government of making it harder for urban Aborigines.

"It's about making sure there's enough housing for indigenous and low-income Australians, not playing politics," Ms Macklin said.

"The majority of indigenous Australians live in urban areas - Mal Brough shouldn't give up on their housing needs."

The move to change urban housing arrangements for Aborigines comes as the Government pressures Queensland to change its laws to allow Aborigines to own their own homes on communal land.

Prominent Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson backs the moves towards private ownership but Mr Calma has accused the Government of being obsessed with the views of a few Aboriginal leaders, including Mr Pearson.

But Mr Brough said: "People in positions of authority quite often decide, 'Well, I'm taking the best house for my family', and on it goes.

"So this is not a model that we expect to work in any other part of Australian society, so I'm taking a proposal to cabinet in the next few weeks, and no doubt I'll have some enemies as a result of this because some people have been beneficiaries. But we can't continue to say that an investment of Australian taxpayers' money of $3 billion achieves nothing," he said.

Mr Calma said he was concerned that Aboriginal communities were being targeted.

"I would be interested to test whether this contravenes the Racial Discrimination Act - that's something we want to find out about when we see the details," he said.

National Indigenous Council member Wesley Aird said he supported the Government's mainstreaming of indigenous housing in urban areas, but was concerned that indigenous people in need had access to mainstream services now.

"There are instances where the system has been abused," Mr Aird said. "But now we need to make sure that the mainstream services start catering for all people in need."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21266554-2702,00.html