Gapuwiyak families given keys to 11 new homes completed in time for Christmas

Gapuwiyak families have been given the keys to 11 new homes ahead of Christmas after spending years in overcrowded housing. Read what some of the new tenants.

Walter Garawirrtja and wife Madeline Gurruwiwi were among 11 families in Gapuwiyak to receive the keys to their new homes on Wednesday as part of the state government’s Remote Housing Investment Package.

The couple along with their three children Tobias, Carlina and Liana were previously living at Ms Gurruwiwi’s parents house which they shared with four others.

Mr Garawirrtja said it was difficult living with so many people.

“I was living with my wife’s parents and it was a hard life because we’ve been sharing one kitchen, washing machine and it was hard.

“There was 10 people living in one house and it was like crowded house plus me and my wife, we don’t smoke and it was hard ‘cause when they smoke, we smoke too.

“It was three bedrooms and we was struggling, we was storing our food and clothing in one store room and it was very hard for us.”

He also said receiving the keys to their new home was life changing for the family.

“I’m feeling like I’m a new person and [it’s] exciting,” he said.

“It’s like starting a new life.”

Mr Garawirrtja also got to pick the colour of his family’s new house, choosing yellow in honour of his grandmother’s clan.

Minister Selena Uibo with Walter Garawirrtja, Madeline Gurruwiwi, Tobias Garawirrtja, Carlina Garawirrtja, Liana Garawirrtja who received the keys to their brand new home in Gapuwiyak on Wednesday. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Neighbour Charmaine Marrawungu was overjoyed to receive the keys to her new home after living in a five-bedroom house with 15 relatives.

“I feel so happy,” she said.

“I’m also happy we got new houses for all the people in Gapuwiyak.”

Ms Marrawungu said she was looking forward to taking care of her children and having her family visit over the Christmas holidays.

WTD Constructions is building all 38 of the new homes in Gapuwiyak with a team of 10 workers including three local apprentices.

Of those homes, 29 have been completed with the remaining nine currently underway.

Each house is built using cool room panels with special features including multipurpose outdoor/indoor rooms, aircon hatches in each bedroom and ceiling fans to combat the heat.

WTD Constructions Gapuwiyak site manager David Hassard said it was “brilliant” to see the families move into their new homes in time for Christmas.

“Seeing the families move in, their happy faces, especially just before Christmas as well, getting a new house right before Christmas is really, really nice to see,” he said.

“It does have its challenges working here; location, transport, the heat, other factors but I mean overall, at the end of the day when you get a result like this 11 new happy families just before Christmas, it’s worth its while.”

11 new houses have been built in Gapuwiyak as part of the $2.2 billion Remote Housing Investment Package. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Remote Housing and Homelands Minister Selena Uibo visited Gapuwiyak to hand over the keys to the new homeowners.

Minister Uibo said the addition of the new homes would help ease overcrowding within the community.

“So overcrowding will reduce as long as we keep building housing, that’s our Territory Labour government’s commitment,” she said.

“We’re also seeing, of course, the bigger impact which is reducing the number of overcrowding in our community which also has the benefit for education for employment for health in particular.”

The Garawirrtja-Gurruwiwi moved into their brand new home in Gapuwiyak on Wednesday. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Shadow Minister Gerard Maley criticised the delivery of the package, particularly the long wait times for families like the Garawirrtja-Gurruwiwi and Marrawungus.

“The families in Gapuwiyak and throughout the Northern Territory deserved better than this slow, inefficient, and evidently mismanaged effort,” he said.

“It’s laughable how the Fyles Labor government paints a rosy picture of families escaping overcrowded conditions, conveniently ignoring the six years it took for this lacklustre initiative to materialise.”

He said the “change in definition from “rooms” to “houses” seems like a desperate attempt to mask the fact that they’ve fallen far short of their initial targets.”

“It’s a transparent attempt to downplay their failure to deliver, conveniently blurring the fact that they were behind on delivering 697 bedrooms,” he said.

Mr Maley also called on Labor to address the “financial mismanagement” of the package.

“With $69.7 million in remote rent previously written off, $6.8 million still outstanding, and a whopping $44.9 million spent on repairing remote housing, one wonders if this is a housing initiative or a bottomless pit for taxpayer money,” he said.

1950 bedrooms have been delivered under the National Partnership for Remote Housing Northern Territory as part of the $2.2 billion Remote Housing Investment Package, jointly funded by the Territory Labor government and the Australian government since 2016.