This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Indigenous leaders have warned that community housing will fall into disrepair – and crucial local employment programs will be scrapped – after the federal government set aside no money for remote housing in three states.

Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia each have 10-year remote housing funding agreements with the commonwealth that expire in June.

Communities in those states have been left in limbo after money for the program was effectively cut from the federal budget.

Local leaders say they could be forced to scale back their construction and maintenance programs as a result.

Quick guide 2018 budget at a glance Show Hide • Tax cuts for middle low and middle income earners with most saving between $200 and $530 a year on their tax bill through a tax offset • Ambition for a flat tax rate by 2024 of 32.5% for everyone earning between $41,000 and $200,000 • $4.5bn earmarked for roads, but major public transport projects will have to wait years for the lion's share of funding announced in the budget. $24.5 billion has been directed to new commitments, but only $4bn of that is being spent in the next four years • The controversial robodebt electronic debt recovery is to continue • Newly arrived migrants will have to wait another year to receive welfare assistance, while refugees will see their wait for Newstart doubled to 26 weeks • Superannuation funds to be banned from charging exit fees and fees for accounts under $3,000 will be limited to 3% • ABC to have its funding cut by $83.7 million over three years. Meanwhile a Captain Cook statue in Scott Morrison’s electorate is to be built at a cost of $25m • ‘Black’ economy is under the spotlight with government planning to claw back revenue it is losing to illegal tobacco. Home Affairs estimates it can earn $3.6 billion from a crackdown • Pensioners will be able to earn an additional $25 a week without reducing their pension. The pension loan scheme is also being expanded, which allows pensioners to use their homes as equity to boost their retirement incomes • $1.6bn is being spent to support an additional 14,000 additional high-level home care packages. A further $82.5m is being spent on mental health services for older Australians, including a $20m “loneliness” package, to help people “remain connected to their communities”. • New measures to help crack down on multinationals avoiding tax commitments. The government is also moving to add to previously announced measures to make sure income earned in Australia, can be taxed by Australia.

Cape York mayors have told Guardian Australia that housing projects have become a key economic driver of many Indigenous communities, supporting jobs and providing apprenticeships for young people.

“I’ve got seven apprentices between their first year and their fourth year – five carpenters and two plumbers – I’m yet to break the news to them,” the mayor of Lockhart River, Wayne Butcher, said.

“I always tell people that it’s not about building you a house but who built that house. When your own community and your own people build houses, that’s you building your capacity. When you build your own capacity, you strengthen the social fabric of the community.

“It’s a real kick in the guts for Indigenous housing in remote Australia. It will have a devastating effect throughout our community.”



Desmond Taley, the mayor of Wujal Wujal, said the program currently supports about 200 homes in a community of more than 650 people. That still leaves, in some cases, 12 people sleeping in a three-bedroom house.

“That is not acceptable,” he said. “You wouldn’t have that on the Gold Coast or Sydney or Brisbane.

“We have very grave concerns about it, from the bottom of Queensland to the tip of Cape York and the Torres Strait.”

Works projects that assist locals to gain employment in their remote communities have extensive economic benefits. They reduce reliance on welfare and they allow maintenance and other work to be carried out by local people with trades skills. Governments and councils would otherwise have to spend thousands on fly-in, fly-out tradespeople.

Aboriginal people with disabilities and their families need our support | Joseph Archibald for IndigenousX Read more

Guardian Australia can reveal the Queensland government offered in March to almost double its contribution over 10 years and spend $1.08bn on remote housing.

It wrote to the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, outlining the commitment and asked the federal government to maintain its share – about 63% of the total program – and spend about $1.8bn over 10 years.

The Queensland treasurer and deputy premier, Jackie Trad, said the federal budget marked the first time since the 1967 referendum the federal government had left remote communities without money for housing.

“What Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull did on Tuesday night was smash a 50-year tradition in this nation and that is a disgrace,” Trad said. “From our perspective it’s not money that’s the issue, it’s having a process to resolve it.”

Trad said she understood if the government wanted to scrap the agreements, which were put in place by the first Rudd Labor government. She said continuing fair funding for remote communities was more important than politics around the nature of the agreements.

The Western Australian treasurer, Ben Wyatt, said his state had been “dudded” and criticised the commonwealth for a “belligerent refusal” to negotiate an extension.

Only the Northern Territory, which coordinates services to 72 remote communities, was allocated money for remote housing in the federal budget. The NT government has agreed to match the $550m allocation dollar for dollar.

In a statement on budget night, Scullion said “negotiations are ongoing” with the Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.