Wadeye residents employed on $18.5 million contract to build new homes in remote NT community

Wadeye resident Wesley Miler is working on the new home builds in his community. (ABC News: Matt Garrick)

A year and a half since dozens of homes were destroyed during violent unrest in the remote community of Wadeye, young Indigenous men are picking up the tools to help build brand new ones.

The community of more than 2,000 people in the Northern Territory’s remote west struggles under social issues such as severe overcrowding, which many are hoping the new builds can help overcome.

Among those employed on the $18.5 million government remote housing contract is Wesley Miler, who recently completed a certificate in carpentry, which he undertook locally.

“I have a little one here, a young fella, I wanted to find a job here and support my son,” he said.

Six local Indigenous men have been working in the crew of 14 tradespeople.

Mr Miler said the Indigenous and non-Indigenous tradies working on the project had formed strong bonds since the contract got underway last year.

“Been helping these boys build these houses out here, been good, been fun, seeing different whitefellas come in for work, get to know them very well, get to talk to them,” Mr Miler said.

“Go out hunting after we do all the works out here.”

The 16 new homes are being built by the Thamarrurr Development Corporation for a new sub-division in the community.

They’re additional to 125 homes that were in varying states of damage following rioting in the community in 2022, which were all repaired by May this year to a tune of $10.5 million.

NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles defended having to spend taxpayer funding on those repairs.

“It’s unfortunate when we see this community violence escalate to those types of situations, so that’s why we work to stop that,” Ms Fyles said.

“If someone is charged, and if police can hold someone to account, they will, in terms of the damage, but it is difficult when you see such numbers of people in a community participate in that unrest.

“But we’ve gotten all those houses back online as well as build new houses.”

More than 20 people were arrested following the affray in April 2022.

Since then, traditional owners have been working alongside police to try to maintain peace.

Authorities have also heralded last week’s reopening of Wadeye’s pool and the recent return of local AFL matches as positive signs the community has turned a corner since the unrest.

New homeowners celebrate space from overcrowding

Among those counting themselves lucky to have secured one of the new homes in Wadeye is Lirrga man and Aboriginal interpreter, John Kingston Luckan.

“I don’t know for how many years I was struggling to get a new house,” Mr Luckan said.

“I had to stay with my brother-in-law and my sister and the family, a bit overcrowded.”

It is not uncommon in the remote NT for more than 15 people to be forced to live together in a three-bedroom home with one toilet, which evidence shows can be badly detrimental to health.

In Wadeye’s case, Mr Luckan said the overcrowding can also contribute to ongoing family tensions.

However, he said he was pleased to see the young residents “working together” on the new builds.

“All these young fellas that I see working out here, they good, they’re trying to get some skills, learn something different for themselves that can change their lives,” Mr Luckan said.

The community’s has long grappled with high rates of unemployment — in the 2016 Census, Wadeye’s jobless rate was nearly 59 per cent.

CLP says Labor ‘dropped the ball’ on housing

The NT Labor government said through its $2.2 billion remote housing program it was building 78 homes at Wadeye, “with 64 of these completed or underway”.

However, the Country Liberal Party’s (CLP) Deputy Leader Gerard Maley said the government had “failed the community” on its targets for housing delivery through a national partnership.

“We found out in [budget] estimates this year that they were 707 bedrooms behind schedule,” Mr Maley said.

“Clearly they have dropped the ball in relation to remote housing.”

Ms Fyles said she “won’t take criticism from the CLP”.

“We have built hundreds of new bedrooms … this is a program that we are absolutely committed to and will continue to drive,” she said.

NT Housing Minister Selena Uibo revealed the shortfall during estimates hearings earlier this year, and blamed the delay on a later than expected rollout of the Commonwealth’s share of funding.

The figures show 1,253 remote bedrooms were completed between July 2022 and March 2023.