SENATOR MALARNDIRRI MCCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good morning, I'd like to acknowledge that we've come together on the lands of the Larrakia people and pay my respects to Elders, past, present, and emerging. I'm here at YiSSA. It is a deeply sad day, and has been for quite some time, with at least 120 residents still here who do not want to be relocated to Batchelor. I am pleased that my colleague, the Special Envoy for Homelessness in the Australian Government, Josh Burns, is here with me along with representatives from the AHURI Homelessness Conference. It's great to see Kate and Jackson here as well, and they'll be able to speak with you. But of course, this is all about Rose and the families here still at YiSSA who do require a lot more compassion. I want to continue my offer to the Northern Territory Government that our offer as a Federal Government still remains on the table. It is a fair and a very reasonable offer, and the sensible step here would be to maintain these families here at YiSSA, at least get us through the wet season. We can see now that we are embarking on the wet season. It's the first time in a very long time in my memory that I've seen 1000s of people displaced here in the Northern Territory as a result of wet season flooding and cyclones, both in Central Australia and in the north. And YiSSA did house hundreds of residents from the Daly River region, it is an important location, not just for people like Rose, but it's also important for what we're doing in terms of preparing for the next wet season. So, I call on the Northern Territory Government, please extend their stay, get back to the table with the Australian Government, and let's work through this sensibly. Over to you, Josh.
JOSH BURNS MP, SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SOCIAL HOUSING AND HOMELESS: Thank you so much, Minister. Well, it's an honour to be here and to spend some time with Rose and speaking to the local community. It's heartbreaking, really, because this place is a refuge. It's a place where people can access services. They can access meals. It's here. It's available. It's not going anywhere. The decision to take people out of here is an unnecessary one, and frankly, it's bad public policy. The Northern Territory Government wants to spend 18 million dollars to build a completely new facility in Batchelor, but there's one right here that's already bigger. It's got access to services. It's got an incredible team of staff from both Yilli and Mission Australia who are working here and doing an amazing job. They're good people and they're supporting residents. And if you think about taking people out of here, it's not going to take people out of Darwin. It's going to mean that people are going to be forced into unsafe conditions, and what's that going to do? That's going to mean that there's more presentations at the Royal Darwin Emergency Department when you've already got double ramping in the emergency department on too many nights where people are sharing a room with a bed one and a half meters away from you, with people who are already squashed in there, hospital staff overworked, nursing staff overworked. There's already huge acute pressures on the healthcare system here. And what do you think taking a facility like this away, down to Batchelor, is going to do? It's going to mean that there is even more pressure, and you're going to spend more money to get a worse result, it makes no sense from the Northern Territory government. There is an alternative. The alternative is exactly what the Minister just said: take a breath, pause, keep people safe over the wet season, and come back to the negotiating table with the Federal Government. We can get a policy outcome. That keeps this service here available, keeps people safe, lets people, amazing and good people like Rose, stay here and live safely in this incredibly important service, and it also means that you're not wasting money for a facility that is not yet available in Batchelor. It's not ready now, and yet people are being forced to extract out of here. So, I would say to the Northern Territory Government, don't make this bad policy decision. It will hurt people in Darwin. It will put extra pressure on your hospitals. It is a cruel and unnecessary decision when we are putting money on the table to ensure that we can get a better outcome for the people up here in the Territory, and I hope that we can treat people with a bit more dignity, and we can come back to the negotiating table and get a much better outcome. I'll hand over to my colleagues in the homelessness service, Kate.
KATE COLVIN, CEO HOMELESSNESS AUSTRALIA: My name's Kate Colvin. I'm the CEO of Homelessness Australia, the national peak body for homelessness. I'm here at YiSSA, which is a safe place, a place that women and children can come when they're fleeing family violence and be safe. And I can see here that there's little children who've just participated in a play group and are having a good time. They've got smiles on their faces, and I wonder what's going to happen to them on Sunday, when they get kicked out of this place, and people have to go somewhere that's not safe. Do they have to go back to their community where it's not safe? Do they have to go and sleep on the street, or do they have to go to Batchelor where there's not a school that has room for them, where there's not a proper shop where the family can buy nappies or any of the things that you need to raise a child? So I ask the Government to protect these children and keep this safe place for women and children, so that people when they're homeless, can just have somewhere safe to be.
JACKSON HILLS, CEO NATIONAL SHELTER: Thanks, folks. Jackson Hill, CEO of National Shelter, national peak body in the housing space, and we're very focused on housing security right across the country, and that's why we're significantly concerned with this set of decisions that are taking place. And we're here today with our colleagues from Homelessness Australia and meeting some of the fantastic residents at this facility and the service providers to put our support behind the Commonwealth's offer to the Territory Government to come back to the table and work through practical solutions in this space. Now I understand some things are already occurring and we're already seeing some system impacts and people moving into rough sleeping when we already had a significant problem with that in the Territory. So as a housing system, we can't afford to let significant decisions like this add to the problem. So, unless we're ready to make the transition, we need to pause. We need to just take a breath and get back around the table with people that have actually got money on the table, like the Commonwealth, and see what we can work through to make sure that there's more practical, sustainable solutions for people in this housing system in the Territory. I just want to say too that it’s been great to be here at the facility and see how it operates. You know, I think walking around the place today, this is actually a pretty well-functioning facility. I mean, these units of accommodation, as compared to some of the other temporary and emergency responses in the system, are quite good. So it's hard to actually wrap your head around the current set of decisions that have been taken, and we'd strongly urge the Territory Government to come back to the table and consider alternative options. Thank you.
ROSE LAYNBALYNBA, RESIDENT AT YISSA: Hi everybody. My name is Rose Laynbalynba. I'm a YiSSA resident. Same thing. I'm asking the Government. Can you pause, hold on, because we are not really ready to go to a place where we are being sent. We need to negotiate. Sit with us. Talk to us. What is the bottom line? That's my question. What's the bottom line? Now, I come from Arnhem Land in Millingimbi. I've got my own land, country. I can go back, but seeing many residents move away from YiSSA without saying nothing, and I thought this is not right. So I had to stand up. I'm a Malak person. I had to stand up for my people. I saw that my people are being mistreated and moved out quickly. Can we cooperate and talk about what is the bottom line? What happened here? We want to stay here. This is a safe place. Now, if I go to Batchelor, if anything goes wrong, going from bad to worse, if my kids are being raped or taken, Government will only turn around and blame the Aboriginal people for not looking after the children. That has been there all the time. So give us time and chance to stay here. This is a safe place, and we agree what you people are saying. But don't put false accusation against your own. I've had that argument with others, saying that this is your fault. It's not our fault. We don't cause trouble here. Nothing bad is happening here. We are asking you people to sit and negotiate with us. Give us time and a chance to stay through this wet season. If you send us now, it's going to be really, really hard for a lot of our sick people and ourselves.
I work here. I work as well as a casual, and I send my granddaughter to go from here to Broome for school, boarding school. She stays there now. Just imagine if I'm in Batchelor, if she's arriving at six in the morning, when they usually do, and I don't have a car to come pick her up, if somebody's taken off with my granddaughter, whose fault is that? Because it's going to be your fault for moving me to Batchelor, and my granddaughter here will struggle. And the Government will turn around and say, "Rose, it's the Aboriginal people's fault”. So, let’s get together and start negotiating, talking. Give us time, more time and a chance. We need to know what is the bottom line of being evicted. Is it because of the lease that's run out with Ausco, or is it some other reasons? We will understand. Please give us time and chance for our people to go to a proper house. That's all I need. That's all I need. I need help from you people. I'm a Malak person. I'm not a Larrakia, but I am there standing for Larrakia. We need to be recognised as Aboriginal people, we need to be recognised as First Nations people of this country.
JOURNALIST: Why doesn't the Federal Government cover the costs of YiSSA?
MCCARTHY: This is Crown land that belongs under the Northern Territory Government responsibility. That has been at the heart of this issue. The Commonwealth did offer the Northern Territory Government the opportunity of us paying the 6.5 million dollars on the condition that Yilli Rreung would continue to service the facility and the people here. That agreement was not accepted. So we went to the next point in the negotiation, and that was to go part way, which was the $3.5 million.
JOURNALIST: So your initial offer was to pay for the whole thing.
MCCARTHY: That's correct.
JOURNALIST: The sticking point seems to be Yilli's continued service here?
MCCARTHY: That's correct.
JOURNALIST: Why is that?
MCCARTHY: Well, you'd need to ask the Northern Territory Government.
JOURNALIST: Is it fair to say that they're just not willing to communicate at all at this point?
MCCARTHY: What I will say is this: as the Minister for Indigenous Australians, I have the task across the country to look at the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. My role is to work with the Indigenous Affairs Ministers and their Cabinets to try to do exactly that. What I've done in these negotiations is to encourage the partnership with Aboriginal organisations with the Northern Territory Government. That partnership was not accepted by the CLP Government.
JOURNALIST: How many times have you met with the Northern Territory Government on the YiSSA housing issue?
MCCARTHY: There's been quite a few times. There has been interactions with letters, which we've released publicly. This has been ongoing for quite some time.
JOURNALIST: Could I ask Rose, if you don't mind? Do you know what's happening on Sunday? Have you been told what the plan is for everyone living here on Sunday?
LAYNBALYNBA: Well, not at the moment. I thought I need to get the answers first. Like I said, let us negotiate first before I move out of YiSSA.
JOURNALIST: So no one's told you the plan for relocating to Batchelor?
LAYNBALYNBA: I was told. We were told, but I think I'm against it. I don't really want to go to Batchelor. Like I said already, it's going to go from bad to worse. That's what I see. If those people that are evicting us can see that too. Well, I haven't heard.
LEO LEONARDO, RESIDENT: I live here. There's no one going to Batchelor. They don't want to go there. The residents don't want us there. The government just kicked us out. We're on a program where we're all going to get into housing eventually, but the government CLP are being stupid just kicking us all out. Go to Batchelor. I'm recovering, in remission for stomach cancer. I don't want to go to Batchelor. I go to the hospital all the time. I get no transport. I had to sell my car. I lost my job because of my cancer. I ended up here. I worked all my life in Darwin. I'm a local. I went to Miller Primary, Nightcliff High School, and worked here all my life. I got a big family here. “Oh move in with your sister or brother.” Look, they got kids. I'm a grandfather, for God's sake! I've got seven grandkids. I grew up here in Darwin, and we're all multi-cultured, and we all love each other.
And this place here is the best place I've been to. The staff here are so beautiful, and now they're kicking us out for no reason at all. I don't know what their reason is. Oh, you got no money? Bullshit! I pay my taxes all my life, I worked at Macarthur River Mines at Borroloola. I worked underground there, 1.6 kilometres underground on the crushing conveyor system. I've been through all Borroloola, all around the territory. My mother's from Garden Point. My father's from Italy. Right? He came over to Australia years ago before CLP mob idiots. And they've done everything for us. We had a house and everything. I grew up in Darwin. I love Darwin. I love Indigenous people because I'm Indigenous myself, and I'm Italian, and I can't believe what the Government is doing.
There's people on renal dialysis. How the hell are they going to go to renal? You know, renal at Nightcliff, renal at the hospital. I worked at the Darwin Hospital for 12 years. I worked. I drove to outpatient buses and everything. I worked everywhere, all around the Territory. And this Government is just pissing me off the way they're carrying on. Like this is a multicultural Darwin. Everybody gets on with everybody here. We go hunting all our lives. We go fishing. We go goose shooting. We go mud crabbing. Everything. It's a beautiful town, Darwin. And this person, whoever it is, wants to stuff us around and stuff all these poor, lovely Aboriginal Indigenous people around. Stop it!
JOURNALIST: Minister, who have you met with in the NT Government?
MCCARTHY: Our most recent meeting with the Northern Territory Government was with the Acting Chief Minister, Gerard Maley, when Senator Katie Gallagher and I met with him and made that direct approach to him. It was refused.
JOURNALIST: Should the Defence housing that was planned to be built at the Lee Point development be built in Berrimah instead?
MCCARTHY: One of the reasons also why Senator Gallagher was here was to look at the Defence land and the fact that there are many properties across Australia that're being looked at in terms of the sale of Defence land, and that is a question that should go directly to Senator Gallagher. But it is one that I know that constituents have raised and we have advocated. I have advocated as the Senator for the Northern Territory for this, for Senator Gallagher to have a look at all those issues.
BURNS: Thanks everyone. Thanks for coming.