Costello homes in on new world vision
04.09.2009
By: Tony Koch
INTERNATIONAL aid agency World Vision Australia has turned to its own backyard, with a ground-breaking scheme to help indigenous people build new homes for half the price the government would pay.
In the process, World Vision boss Tim Costello has thrown down the gauntlet to the federal and Northern Territory governments over their failure to date to deliver homes for remote communities under the $672 million Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program.
Mr Costello, whose most publicised charitable works have been in Third World countries, was asked by the Mapoon community in north Queensland to cut through the maze of red tape around Aboriginal housing.
Mr Costello, a Baptist minister and the brother of the former federal treasurer, outlined his plan to The Australian after spending two days in the former mission community on Cape York peninsula.
World Vision believed it could build homes for between $250,000 and $300,000 in Mapoon, compared with the price tag of up to $700,000 quoted for similar residences in Northern Territory communities.
Mr Costello said the plan involved the land being converted to 99-year leases and finance for the building work extended by Indigenous Business Australia, a government agency that helps Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders get into business or the home market.
Mapoon is possibly Australia's most attractive and liveable indigenous community, belying its tragic history.
On November 15, 1963, police acting on the instruction of the Queensland government arrived at the church mission settlement and ordered residents at gunpoint to board a barge and leave with only what they could carry.
The police then burnt down every dwelling and the families were shipped to ``New Mapoon'' on the tip of Cape York.
The action cleared the way for mining giant Comalco to extract valuable bauxite deposits.
In 1974, families began drifting back and rebuilding homes, so that now there is a virtually new township with well-spaced homes built in harmony with the bushland.. Children are healthy, employment opportunities are available, homes are not overcrowded, and crime is rare.
Only one of the original corrugated iron homes survived the arson attack, and its owner, community elder Susie Madua, is among a group of traditional owners who strongly support home ownership.
``This is our land, our home, and we want to stay here and own the houses we live in,'' she said.
``I was here when the community was burnt down by the police and my family returned. I have a house I would like to own and hand on to my
children and grandchildren when I go.''
Mr Costello said if home ownership for indigenous people was not achievable in Mapoon, it could not be achieved in any community.
Mr Costello said World Vision's task was to brief the Queensland and federal governments on its work in Mapoon on housing affordability.
``We have been working with the community for five months along with our partners Indigenous Business Australia, the Mapoon community trustees and the Mapoon Council to establish a successfully operating home ownership scheme within two years,'' Mr Costello said.
World Vision had concentrated on five case studies of the possible 28 locals who wanted to buy the homes they now rented, and tested their capacity to pay projected sale prices in communities where land is held under deed of grant in trust title.
One aspect of the World Vision scheme is to create a new mechanism for valuing property in remote communities, where land is often held as a communal deed in trust and capital gains do not exist.
Mr Costello said current methods valued existing homes at significantly more than people could afford, and the challenge was to solve this problem.
He said the reasons people gave for wanting to own homes were reflective of broader community aspirations. ``They want to own something and they want an asset to pass on to their children,'' he said.
The report released by Mr Costello seeks special concessions for Mapoon residents buying their existing homes. Purchases would be made with funding through IBA, which would also fund new homes. Mr Costello said there were about 60 publicly-owned homes in Mapoon and a few privately owned dwellings. Close to one third of households could be assumed to qualify for a home loan with IBA, he said.
