Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Parallel ...

applying for private rental accommodation, making it impossible for them to find suitableprivate rental housing. Our women have also experienced overt discrimination whenapplying for home loans from private lending institutions. The inability to afford oraccess mortgage finance, coupled with discrimination in the private rental market andinsufficient public housing, puts many of our women in impossible situations.Case StudyOne woman reported that an Aboriginal teacher in a regional town in New South Waleswas trying to find rental accommodation. The real estate agents in town told her thatthere was nothing available. Very upset, she rang her white Australian husband whowent to the real estate offices and was given lists of available houses. This woman didnot make a complaint as she had previously been involved in a discrimination issue andjust could not face going through the process again. 117New houses under the Northern Territory InterventionAs one forum participant pointed out:It can't be that hard to get some emergency accommodation set up quickly in Aboriginalcommunities. The government managed to do it a few months for the Northern TerritoryIntervention workers.As of early July 2009, none of the hundreds of new houses promised in 2007 for remotecommunities as part of the Northern Territory Intervention have been built. 118National Partnership on Remote Indigenous HousingThe Remote Indigenous Housing National Partnership provides for $1.94 billion over 10years to reform housing and infrastructure arrangements in remote Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander communities and is part of the Australian Government’s ‘Closethe Gap’ initiative. 119 The partnership aims to improve the living standards of Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander people living in remote areas by reducing overcrowding,homelessness, poor housing conditions and severe housing shortages. 120Whilst the proposed improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander housing arewelcome, there must be genuine consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderpeople to ensure that housing is culturally appropriate. 121 The housing needs of ourwomen must be heard and listened to.Practices in Relation to the Provision of Public Housing and Related Services to Aboriginal People inWestern Australia', (Perth: EOC, 2004).117 Case study provided by participant attending the Brisbane consultation. Similar experiences werereported in most of the consultations.118 Paul Toohey, 'Roadblock on remote housing as progress stalls on indigenous response’, TheAustralian, (4 July 2009), at 16 July 2009.119 Australian Government, ‘Closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage: The challenge for Australia’(February 2009), 21, .120 Council of Australian Governments, ‘National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing’(2008), 1, < http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2008-11-29/docs/20081129_remote_indigenous_housing_factsheet.pdf>.121 Australian Human Rights Commission, ‘Review of Australia’s Fourth Periodic Report on theImplementation of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights’, Australian58