Hostel funding hangs in the balance

State Housing Minister Troy Buswell has threatened to withdraw $12 million earmarked for a badly needed Aboriginal hostel in Broome unless the Shire Council allows it to be built in a residential area known as “the Bronx” for its social issues.

In reply, Shire president Graeme Campbell has slammed the Housing Minister for his department’s failure to reach agreement to build a 50-bed hostel and camping facility at the One Mile Aboriginal Community, despite several years of negotiations.

Mr Campbell said an influx of itinerant travellers and visitors to Broome from outlying communities, particularly during the wet season, made the tourist town appear to some people “third world”, with people sleeping rough all over the place.

After years of lobbying, Mr Buswell recently put a proposal to Cabinet to build a hostel at 12 Dora Street, a low socio-economic area in Broome.

Mr Campbell said the site selection flew in the face of independent reports commissioned by the Federal Government which found it was unsuitable.

He said the Shire had also voted against the hostel being built there as it would exacerbate the area’s social issues. “We don’t support it,” Mr Campbell said.

The issue is complicated by the fact that One Mile lies on land subject to Yawuru native title, but vested in the Aboriginal Lands Trust under a lease only recently signed with the Department of Indigenous Affairs.

Nyamba Buru Yawuru chief operations officer Andy McGaw said Yawuru people supported the hostel development at One Mile, as long as native title was not extinguished and existing leaseholders’ rights were respected.

“The State could revoke the lease if it chose to, however it would need to ensure there was appropriate compensation if it did,” he said.

Mr McGaw said the Yawuru people had not been consulted over the Dora Street site, and he warned a hostel there could “add kindling to a smouldering fire”.

“It is the part of Broome under the most housing stress and there are a range of social issues in that area, including overcrowding … it could actually make things worse,” he said.

Mr Buswell said while One Mile remained the State’s preferred option, it was not available.

He pledged any hostel on Dora Street would not happen before a significant urban renewal project in the precinct