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Home » Areas of Focus » Indigenous Affairs » Land and Housing » National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (2008-18)

National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (2008-18)

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In 2008, the Council of Australian Governments agreed six targets for closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage relating to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational attainment and employment outcomes. Safe and appropriate housing was identified as a fundamental requirement for addressing these issues and the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (NPARIH) was initiated to address this.

From 2008 – 2018, the Commonwealth allocated $5.4 billion to NPARIH and the National Partnership on Remote Housing (NPRH), which delivered significant housing outcomes, including the construction of 4,000 new houses and another 7,500 existing houses refurbished across 300 remote Indigenous communities. Property and tenancy management reforms were also introduced as part of this investment including a program of ongoing maintenance and repairs which progressively increased the life cycle of housing. The focus of the National Partnerships changed from NPARIH to NPRH, moving from the establishment of new systems to focussing on services and programmes to lift outcomes for tenants. This was reflected in NRPH by linking funding with specific milestones, including Indigenous employment and business targets. 

In 2014, the Commonwealth negotiated buy out arrangements with Victoria and Tasmania, as the majority of the remote housing need was met. The Commonwealth worked with NSW and determined it had addressed its most critical remote housing need. In May 2016, NSW agreed to an early exit from the partnership agreement and negotiated a buy-out arrangement with the Commonwealth.

In 2016, the new NPRH was negotiated between the Commonwealth, Northern Territory (NT), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA) Governments to replace the NPARIH. The NPRH focused on addressing critical housing need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities, improving service delivery, leveraging employment and business opportunities, and creating more sustainable housing systems. The NPRH came into effect on 1 July 2016 and concluded 30 June 2018. The Commonwealth committed $776.403 million over two years under the NPRH.

The Remote Housing Review of NPARIH and NPRH in 2016 noted significant progress has been made but a range of ongoing issues still needed to be addressed. The Review estimated, after accounting for population growth, an additional 5,500 homes are required by 2028 to reduce levels of overcrowding in remote areas to acceptable levels. Half of the additional need is in the Northern Territory alone. A copy of the Review and other related documents can be found at the Remote Housing Review Website.

Following the completion of the ten-year investment through the National Partnership Agreements, in 2018-19 the Commonwealth provided one-off funding contributions for remote indigenous housing to Western Australia ($121 million) and South Australia ($37.5 million), with matched funding from states to assist the transition of responsibility for funding remote housing to the states. The Commonwealth also announced in May 2019 it would provide $105 million to fund remote Indigenous housing in Queensland.

Further information about the National Partnership and copies of the State Schedules can be found at the Council on Federal Financial Relations website.

2008 - 2018 Funding by Year

2008 - 2018 Funding by Year

State

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

10 Year Total

Northern Territory

$50.196 m

$132.383 m

$471.399 m

$389.880 m

$121.502 m

$85.732 m

$70.980 m

$64.280 m

$145.862 m

$144.468 m

$1.677 b

Queensland

$40.651 m

$62.672 m

$70.176 m

$145.285 m

$96.889 m

$177.532 m

$143.478 m

$144.184 m

$59.009 m

$186.163 m

$1.126 b

South Australia

$9.245 m

$97.910 m

$19.381 m

$45.465 m

$5.650 m

$36.414 m

$27.762 m

$18.722 m

$9.547 m

$17.258 m

$287.354 m

Western Australia

$22.680 m

$164.880 m

$85.855 m

$171.819 m

$55.357 m

$191.278 m

$146.906 m

$110.758 m

$35.372 m

$178.724 m

$1.164 b

New South Wales

$22.530 m

$139.963 m

$22.885 m

$36.032 m

$18.535 m

$44.637 m

$60.654 m

$48.043 m

-

-

$393.279 m

Tasmania

$706,000

$5.892 m

$2.137 m

$3.142 m

$2.520 m

-

$2.464 m

-

-

-

$16.861 m

Victoria

$2.764 m

$6.890 m

$3.156 m

$2.520 m

$2.521 m

-

$2.50 m

-

-

-

$20.351 m

National Total

$148.772 m

$610.590 m

$674.989 m

$794.143 m

$302.974 m

$535.593 m

$454.744 m

$385.987 m

$249.790 m

$526.613 m

$4.684 b

* Funding table excludes Commonwealth Own Purpose Expenditure (COPE) funds.
** Victoria and Tasmania exited NPARIH after the 2014/15 year.
*** New South Wales exited NPARIH after the 2015/16 year.

2008 - 2018 Funding by Milestone Element

State

Capital Works

Employment and Education Housing

Property and Tenancy Management

Indigenous Employment

Indigenous Participation

Indigenous Business Engagement

Home Ownership

ICHO Reform

Total

Northern Territory

$1.236 b

$22.234 m

$344.453 m

$25.369 m

$4.969 m

$12.684 m

$6.343 m

$24.441 m

$1.677 b

Queensland

$821.260 m

$37.288 m

$217.379 m

$8.264 m

$1.509 m

$10.330 m

$1.509 m

$28.50 m

$1.126 b

South Australia

$148.734 m

$27.808 m

$39.720 m

$1.841 m

$460,000

$921,000

$460,000

$67.410 m

$287.354 m

Western Australia

$813.624 m

$54.913 m

$190.536 m

$4.768 m

$4.769 m

$4.769 m

$2.386 m

$87.864 m

$1.164 b

New South Wales

$193.731 m

$61.631 m

$15.710 m

 

 

 

 

$122.207 m

$393.279 m

Tasmania

$12.325 m

 

$1.850 m

 

 

 

 

$2.686 m

$16.861 m

Victoria

 

 

$13.837 m

 

 

 

 

$6.514 m

$20.351 m

National Total

$3.226 b

$203.874 m

$823.485 m

$40.242 m

$11.707 m

$28.704 m

$10.698 m

$339.622 m

$4.684 b

* Funding table excludes Commonwealth Own Purpose Expenditure (COPE) funds
** Milestones for Indigenous Employment, Indigenous Participation, Indigenous Business Engagement and Home Ownership were added to the National Partnership under the NPRH in 2016/17 and 2017/18
*** Victoria and Tasmania exited NPARIH after the 2014/15 year.
**** New South Wales exited NPARIH after the 2015/16 year
***** ICHO = Indigenous Community Housing Organisations

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