Boycott on leases stymies housing

Questions of land tenure are playing havoc with the government's remote housing plan

REMOTE housing plans in Cape York have been thrown into chaos with indigenous mayors rebelling against signing over their land under long-term leases to the Queensland government.

Fifty-two new houses are supposed to be completed by next June in four Cape York communities under the federal government's Remote Indigenous Housing Program.

But Aboriginal mayors in the region have instituted a boycott on signing up to the 40-year leases being offered, refusing to enter into any further discussions with the Queensland government on the issue until March.

The mayors are concerned that if the communities sign up to the long-term leases, traditional owners will be denied the opportunity to own their own homes. And they want the opportunity to build the houses themselves using indigenous labour.

Brian Gleeson, the co-ordinator general of Remote Indigenous Services, delivered his first report to the federal government on Friday and warned that difficulties over land tenure issues had the capacity to undermine national targets in remote housing, particularly in Western Australia.

Mr Gleeson warned that state and Territory government targets for remote housing in some areas "appear ambitious", and urged the governments to "apply the same drive" to rolling out remote housing as they had with the social housing element of

the economic stimulus package.

In a recent meeting, Cape York mayors unanimously agreed to ignore the Queensland government's December 11 deadline for signing up to 40-year leases.

The mayors of communities including Aurukun, Doomadgee, Mossman Gorge, Mornington Island, Yarrabah, Coen and Hopevale, are seeking legal advice on the implications of signing up to the 40-year leases.

The federal government has made long-term land tenure a condition of the $5.48 billion it is providing over 10 years for remote housing under a national partnership with state and Territory governments, which is set to provide 4200 houses.

Percy Neal, the mayor of Yarraba community near Cairns, said many Cape York communities viewed the federal and Queensland governments' insistence that 40-year leases be signed as "straight-out blackmail".

The Queensland government instituted legislative reforms last year that allowed Aborigines living on land held in trust by local shires to buy a home under private residential 99-year leases.

"We want the right to own our own house, and a bit of land," Mr Neal said. "That's what we think we're entitled to."

Queensland Housing Minister Karen Struthers did not respond to The Australian's request for a comment on the issue.