Northern Territory Auditor-General's Office, February 2023 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Tabled Paper 772
Tabled Papers for 14th Assembly 2020 -; Tabled Papers; ParliamentNT
2023-02-14
Tabled by the Speaker
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.
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Tabled papers
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/898837
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/898851
Auditor-General for the Northern Territory February 2023 Report Page 71 of 131 Modular Housing cont With the transfer of the Housing Program Office to DIPL, there may be further opportunities to integrate the activities of the Housing Program Office within DIPL. As an example, at the time of my audit, DIPLs internal audit program did not include any internal audit activity specifically directed to auditing the delivery of remote housing at a program level. Audits scheduled in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 internal audit plans do include audits which may involve testing aspects of the remote housing program (such as Value for Territory and contract management). Given the significance of the program to remote Territorians and the financial commitment to delivering the program, the inclusion of the housing program in the internal audit program would provide assurance to stakeholders that the program is being delivered and is also actively seeking opportunities to continuously improve the efficacy of program delivery. Representatives from the Housing Program Office advised that there is an intention to undertake a number of program evaluations in relation to housing delivery. There has been no evaluation scoped or scheduled to date however a staff member has been tasked with determining an appropriate program evaluation strategy. The Plan The plan was originally designed as part of the NTGs Capital Works allocation and is regularly updated, at least annually, as part of the budget preparation process. The methodology used was largely designed around the capacity to reduce overcrowding on a location-by-location basis. Selection of communities to participate in the programs was based on: An Estimated Resident Population 2014 Australian Bureau of Statistics model, using the Canadian National Occupancy Standard and data from the Territorys existing Tenancy Management System An average of: Need (bedrooms) room required as a percentage of the population, that is, a higher percentage means a higher level of need People per bedroom population divided by a total number of remote community housing dwellings (assuming an average of 3 bedrooms per dwelling from Canadian National Occupancy Standard) Required bedrooms as a ratio of remote community housing stock the higher the index the greater level of need is assumed Overcrowded dwellings as a ratio of remote community housing dwellings the lower the index, a greater level of need is assumed Community ranking communities were ranked and filtered to remove known constraints to additional housing development Any community without long-term lease arrangements was given lower priority. Any community identified by Power and Water Corporation (PWC) as having water sources at extreme risk were also given lower priority, but above those without longer term lease arrangements