NT government builds 100 homes in 100 days but still behind on agreements

The Territory government is celebrating a ‘milestone’ in its mammoth goal to reduce overcrowding in remote communities, however it’s still short on federal funding agreements.

One hundred homes have been built in the past 100 days across the Territory, including some which have replaced flood-ravaged houses in the Victoria Daly region.

While construction has picked up pace, governments are still behind on targets to lift living standards in remote communities.

In June it was revealed the NT government was 20 per cent behind on a deadline to build 650 houses over five years, as part of the $1.4bn National Partnership for Remote Housing NT agreement

A new $223m deal then extended the partnership by one year, which came with an extra goal of 157 new homes.

The NT government has built 100 home sin 100 days.

Housing and Homelands Minister Selena Uibo said the delays were due to the pandemic however the program was now powering towards ambitious targets.

“What we saw during the delays of Covid was a lot of our community shut down and rightly so to protect community members … we were behind by about two years,” she said on Monday.

“What we’ve seen now with this milestone today, 100 homes and 100 days.”

The 100 new homes span almost two dozen communities including the northeast island of Galiwinku, flood-impacted Kalkarindji and Amoonguna in the south.

Rusca Developments general manager Tony Trimboli. Picture: Annabel Bowles

East Arm company Rusca Developments has already demolished and replaced 20 homes since August, with many more on the way alongside new builds to reduce overcrowding.

General manager Tony Trimboli said the homes were built in Darwin, with about two-thirds of his workforce Indigenous, and then assembled in community with local employees.

“It takes about seven weeks to get them built … they’re trucked out there in intersections,” he said.

“We send our crews out there and then they’re established very quickly.”

Mr Trimboli said new designs were built with longevity and sustainability in mind, with many homes being elevated to protect the buildings from future flooding.

Housing and Homelands Minister Selena Uibo. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“From the get-go we asked what (community) wanted … being cool and (having) flow through, all of those features had to be incorporated,” he said.

Before they had block homes, where they had no flow through at all and they were just stagnant basically … built on cement blocks.”

Ms Uibo said further funding agreements with the commonwealth were hoped to include money for housing in homelands.

“We’ve seen some great results out in the bush in our 73 Aboriginal remote communities. We want to see that extend to on country,” she said.