Indigenous renos 'grand theft housing'

19 Oct 2012, 5:20 pm   -   Source: AAP

Refurbishments completed under an indigenous housing program have been likened to "grand theft housing" by opposition senator Nigel Scullion.

Many refurbishments completed under an indigenous housing program have "paint jobs a six-year-old would not be proud of" and mismatched tiles, the federal opposition says.

In a potential repeat of Labor's criticised $15 billion Building the Education Revolution program, which provided schools with new facilities, Country Liberal senator Nigel Scullion attacked the work being done by contractors in the indigenous housing project.

Under the joint federal and NT program, $672 million is being spent on a Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) to deliver 750 new houses, the rebuilding of 230 existing homes and 2500 refurbishments in 73 remote indigenous communities by 2013.

During a Senate budget estimates hearing in Canberra on Friday, Senator Scullion, the opposition spokesman on indigenous affairs, reported what he had seen during an inspection of some of the work.

He described paint jobs "that a six-year-old would not be proud of".

"There are holes in walls that have been painted over," he told the committee.

"We have been completely and utterly ripped off. This is grand theft housing."

Department of Indigenous Affairs officials told the committee between $20,000 and $100,000 was being spent on each refurbishment.

However, Senator Scullion said he hadn't been able to find a house that had been refurbished under the program where more than $20,000 had been spent, despite inspecting hundreds of SIHIP houses.

Department official Kate Gumley said the Commonwealth had a robust quality assurance program and was confident it was getting good value for money.

Refurbishments had to measure up to the residential tenancy standard and an Australian National Audit Office report supported the view the program was good value, she said.

"With respect I spend an awful lot more time in these communities than the bods who wrote that report," Senator Scullion replied.

He challenged Ms Gumley to visit the NT and see for herself what the builders were passing off as refurbishments.

Senator Scullion said in some cases tilers had used mismatched coloured tiles and had decided grouting "was not applicable".

But Ms Gumley said the use of mismatched tiles was better than nothing "while I understand that it is certainly more aesthetically pleasing to have colour-matched tiles".

"It may be that the house was constructed some time ago," she added.

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