‘Genuinely hopeful’: Voice will lead to better housing policies

The Voice to Parliament, if passed through legislation, would see a body enshrined in the constitution that would enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to provide advice to the Parliament on policies and projects that impact their lives.

The voice would advise the Australian Parliament and government on matters relating to the social, spiritual, and economic wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, such as native title, employment, community development, NDIS, heritage protection, and housing.

While the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found Indigenous home ownership increased to 42.3 per cent of households in 2021, up from 39.6 per cent in 2016, barriers into home ownership still exist according to chief executive Matthew Ricker at The Australian Unity Bank.

Speaking to Mortgage Business, Mr Ricker said the disparity between financial literacy for First Nations people and other Australians was wide; and particularly dictated by government financial systems, such as the cashless welfare card.

“If you then translate that into a banking context, people that don’t manage money well are on a different risk proposition for lending money too,” he said.

“These types of things have, over time, created barriers.”

Mr Ricker said he was committed to the success of the Voice and believes it will lead to better outcomes.

“I think anything that has our First Nations people having a clear seat at the table for design of policy, to design a programme that reflects what Indigenous Australians will need and how they can access that, that has to be a good thing.

“I’m genuinely hopeful that is going to lead to better policy.”

Mr Ricker said being bound by better policy enables lenders to do their role better.

He added that, historically, there had been levels of “discrimination and inequality” for First Nations people across the banking sector.

“I think largely that comes from not deeply understanding what are the elements of Indigenous Australians that makes them a different proposition,” Mr Ricker said.

Banking partnership to support Indigenous home ownership

According to the Australian Unity Bank CEO, different educational platforms have been formed - such as a banking partnership with Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) - that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into home ownership.

Having provided more than 20,000 home loans in the Indigenous community, IBA partnered with Australian Unity Bank and Bank Australia in 2021 to expand its home ownership program.

Both banks have undertaken formal cultural understanding training to ensure a smooth transition for IBA customers.

Mr Ricker explained the financial position of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can make it challenging to get a standard loan.

For example, people might have very small deposits, no banking track record or maybe not have a bank account. Thus, they work with IBA first to build that track record, before partnering with a bank.

Mr Ricker said: “We then structure a mainstream loan for those families.”

The bank had supported 23 families “to the tune of about 10 and a half million” in lending, over the last year.

“Our partnership both enables Indigenous Australians to have access to mainstream finance, which I think is a really important step, and similarly it then recycles money back to IBA so they can help more people,” Mr Ricker said.

Government policies supporting Indigenous home ownership

While there are very few specific banking products or government housing schemes that target Indigenous Australians, Western Australia’s ‘Jalbi Jiya’ program was one example proving to be a successful model.

The Jalbi Jiya program was established in 2020 and provides a pathway to home ownership for Aboriginal families and is funded through the McGowan government’s $200 million North West Aboriginal Housing Fund (NWAHF).

There are 25 houses in the program, acquired with $9.7 million of NWAHF funding provided in 2020, of which 14 are occupied by families looking to purchase their own home, it confirmed.

Outside of this, Mr Ricker said the government's First Home Buyer Scheme had a good track record for first time buyers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

How the Voice will work?

The Indigenous Voice co-design report was produced by professors Langton and Calma, which was a result of 18 months’ worth of consultation with 9,478 people and organisations.

The report recommended the national Voice have 24 members, with gender balance structurally guaranteed, spread across the states and territories.

Members would serve four-year terms, with half the membership determined every two years, with a limit of two consecutive terms for each member.

The national voice would have two permanent advisory groups — one on youth and one on disability — and a small ethics council to advise on probity and governance.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it simply is a matter of “common courtesy that where something is going to have a direct impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, that you would consult them”.

“We know that you’ll get better outcomes if that occurs,” Mr Albanese said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the voice was a massive opportunity for this country to “move forward together in a spirit of unity and respect” and to improve the lives of First Nations people by giving them a greater say in the issues that affect their community.

“There is a lot of detail out there already from the working group, and there’ll be more detail provided between now and the referendum later this year,” Mr Chalmers said.

[Related: WA government pathway toasts Indigenous FHB success]