Nigel's blog

No-one can benefit from locked-up land

Land is one of the greatest assets that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have, yet for decades collective ownership and paternalistic government regulations have prevented them from developing this asset for the economic benefit of their family and future generations.

Government wastes millions on Aboriginal home ownership program

A Federal Government program which seeks to increase home ownership on Indigenous community titled land was recently assessed by the Australian National Audit Office.

It is nothing short of outrageous that after four years, and against a target of delivering 460 loans across eight communities, the Home Ownership on Indigenous Land (HOIL) program was only able to provide $2.7 million for a mere 15 loans, while administrative costs totalled nearly $10 million.

Labor's failed border protection policy

In August 2008 the Rudd Labor Government began to unravel the Coalition’s strong border protection measures. They abolished temporary protection visas, struck an unprecedented deal with Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Australian patrol boat Oceanic Viking, which traded away our national security, and once Christmas Island filled up began bringing asylum seekers to the mainland before their claims had been processed.

2010-11 Federal Budget

In May the Federal Government handed down an underwhelming 2010-11 Budget, with virtually nothing in it for the Northern Territory. Labor’s plan to return the Budget to surplus within three years relies upon a great big new tax on Australia’s resources sector which will damage jobs and the economy in the Territory. This tax will tear the guts out of not just the mining industry in the Territory, but the substantial service industry surrounding it.