NT Budget: $490m set aside for upgrading remote community housing
THE NT government has set aside $490m to upgrade remote housing for Indigenous people.
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THE NT government has set aside $490m to upgrade remote housing for Indigenous people.
The infrastructure program includes a total of $490m for remote Aboriginal housing across the Territory, with significant investment from both the Territory and commonwealth governments.
The injection of cash comes as the government continues to work towards its $1.1bn 10-year remote housing package.
To date, just $241.1m of the package has been spent.
The Room to Breathe program will double this financial year to $20m.
The program is designed to ease pressure of over crowding in homes with the addition of extra bedrooms, bathrooms and granny flats.
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This financial year the government is looking to, through the budget performance indicators, build 150 new remote community homes, develop 175 new housing lots and add 790 extra bedrooms and living spaces to already established homes.
Top End Health will spend $99.8m on remote primary healthcare with the Central Australia Health Service budgeting $56.5m for remote healthcare.
Key performance indicators for providing health services to Aboriginal people include reaching a rate of 70 per cent of remote Aboriginal women attending their first antenatal visit in the first trimester of their pregnancy and the early intervention for conductive hearing loss in remote Aboriginal children.
There is also a push Territory-wide to get 85 per cent of remote Aboriginal people aged over 15 with type 2 diabetes or coronary heart disease to have a chronic disease management plan.
Across the education sector, $786m will be spent.
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The department has lowered its expectation of attendance rates of Indigenous children in school from 71 per cent last financial year to 63 per cent.
The NT Certificate of Education and Training completion rate of Indigenous people has increased to 98 per cent and matches the rate for non-Indigenous people.
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