$10 million in costs for just 15 loans

21 Dec 2010, 6:14 pm   -   Source: AAP
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An indigenous housing program has been criticised after it used up nearly $10 million in administrative costs to provide just 15 loans.

A federal government program aimed at helping indigenous Australians buy their own home used up nearly $10 million in administrative costs to provide $2.7 million for just 15 loans, an audit report says.

As well, not one of 45 homes constructed at a cost of $25.5 million in the Northern Territory for the program had been sold to the indigenous community.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found the $9.9 million cost of administering the Home Ownership on Indigenous Land (HOIL) program was high compared to the low level of loan activity.

The 15 loans were all provided for homes on the Tiwi Islands in the NT, with all but one in the community of Nguiu.

The program was launched in 2006 by then coalition government indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough as part of the Blueprint for Action in Indigenous Affairs.

The ANAO said the program aimed to provide 460 loans across eight communities.

"In hindsight, the program's performance targets have been overly ambitious," it said.

"Increasing the level of home ownership on indigenous land has proven to be a significant challenge."

As at June 10, 2010, the four-year program had cost $42.7 million.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the federal government was committed to home ownership for indigenous people who aspired to it and who were ready to take on the financial responsibility.

She said she remained open to any new ideas to expand home ownership for indigenous people.

"The costs outlined in the ANAO report include work necessary to get this program up and running," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

"They do not just relate to the houses already built and will provide for future houses as well. This includes scoping of potential communities, project management planning and community education activities, including financial education."

Opposition indigenous affairs spokesman Nigel Scullion said waste and incompetence appeared endemic in the federal government and this was a monumental failure to address housing standards and the number of houses owned by indigenous people.

"It just beggars belief. Fifteen loans is a minuscule amount," he said.

"Instead of providing houses it appears the Labor government again just builds a bureaucracy."

Australian Greens senator Rachel Siewert said her party warned at the time the program was launched that it was ill-conceived and likely to fail.

"Private home ownership in remote indigenous communities was being presented as a panacea to disadvantage in Aboriginal communities when clearly it isn't," she said in a statement.

Senator Siewert said there were significant barriers to indigenous home ownership in remote communities, including low levels of household income and savings and the high cost of housing.

"Successive governments have sought to blame the communal ownership of land in remote communities for extremely low levels of private ownership," she said.

"But, as the failure of this program has clearly demonstrated, there are other, much more significant, barriers."

Despite their low number, Indigenous Business Australia said the loans demonstrated that where conditions were right, indigenous people living in communities did want home ownership as a choice.

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