Ideas@TheCentre
Indigenous housing built on words
If only houses were built of words instead of stones, the government would be well on track with its Indigenous housing program. As it turns out, its much celebrated Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) is not half as good with bricks and mortar as it is with the production of bureaucrat speak.
Despite funding worth nearly $700 million and endless official announcements, SIHIP has produced zero new homes in remote areas, demonstrating that not doing anything does not stop governments giving grandiose names to programs.
One of the ‘Alliances’ formed to implement SIHIP is called ‘Earth Connect’. A fitting name, you may think, but how does one deliver new homes and infrastructure unconnected to the earth. Free hovering homes anyone?
Another initiative is even more strangely labeled the ‘New Future Alliance.’ Surely, they were not going to build an old future? Maybe they took the lead from former US Vice President Dan Quayle who said ‘the future will be better tomorrow’?
These weasel words have no real meaning but propagate the illusion of vital government action. They cannot detract from the fact that nothing has yet been built – an inconvenient truth even the government acknowledges, though somewhat euphemistically.
In an understatement if ever there was one, federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin admitted ‘things were going slowly,’ conveniently excusing the delay on ‘extensive consultation’ with community residents.
‘Extensive consultation’ is really departmental double speak for talking with a few people and showing a PowerPoint presentation.
SIHIP’s fact sheet says ‘ongoing engagement with community residents and their advice has helped shape the solution to housing problems in their communities.’ What solution? They just acknowledged that no new houses have been built; surely it is too early to say that they have found a solution. And what does ‘ongoing engagement’ mean? Never-ending meetings or sporadic unannounced visits by bureaucrats to communities?
Words are being used to try and meet and appease multiple interests. The phrase ‘community control’ can be used to sell more autonomy to Aboriginal communities and outsourcing and cost cutting to government agencies. Generally, it ends up being neither.
It is time for government to lose the rhetoric and start walking the talk.
Sara Hudson is a Policy Analyst with the Indigenous Affairs Research Program at the Centre for Independent Studies.
