Remote indigenous housing is set for an upgrade in the Northern Territory as $350 million is repurposed to give local people a greater role in building their communities.
Public housing in the NT has been plagued with problems, and three central Australian communities recently launched legal action against the NT government for failing to provide timely repairs.
Houses can degrade to an uninhabitable state while waiting for government contractors to carry out repairs, resulting in overcrowding of homes.
On Sunday at Mutitjulu community near Uluru, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion announced that the final two years of the NT's National Partnership Agreement on Remote Aboriginal Investment would be redirected into a new strategy to give local people more of a say.
The money will provide 256 replacement houses and 152 new houses will be built, and more than 1000 houses across the NT refurbished.
There will be a requirement for local indigenous businesses to be engaged to do the work and at least a 35 per cent local indigenous workforce.
"This is an entirely new way of doing business," Senator Scullion said.
Under the old system, the government "spent a huge amount of money and got very little outcomes", he said, with no new apprentices and low levels of indigenous labour, which mostly wasn't local.
"This is a benchmark for the rest of Australia," he said.
He will begin talks with other jurisdictions to look at mandating a similar model of local employment.
"We're making sure that when you're building a house indigenous employment is not an aspiration, it is an outcome in the contract that is an expectation," he said.
Of the funding, $10 million will go towards Mutitjulu for building more than 20 new houses, improving mobile phone coverage, building a business centre and a community bakery.
Local traditional owner Sammy Uluru said it would be a good thing for Mutitjulu.
"Keep helping us" was his message to governments.
"Some people like sitting there working for the dole, well, jump on," he said.
