NT Government owing millions after High Court ruling which deemed rental scheme unlawful

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The Northern Territory government could owe nearly twenty million dollars to tenants of public housing. After the High Court today upended the legal basis of a controversial rental scheme. The Remote Rent Framework was brought in under the previous Labor Government, to simplify the payment of rent in remote communities, but was today ruled unlawful by the High Court.

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00:00A rental payment model under fire from its conception.

00:05We lobbied the government at the time, please don't do this.

00:10The model was based off a town-based community where there is access to goods and services

00:16and it wasn't ever meant to be implemented in the bush.

00:19But in 2023, the then NT Labor government began charging public housing tenants in remote

00:25communities $70 a week for each bedroom in their house, regardless of its condition or

00:30proximity to services.

00:32The government at the time receiving advice that up to 80% of residents in some areas would

00:37see rent hikes of hundreds of dollars a week.

00:40I don't know how somebody who was on a middle class wage would even be able to survive out

00:45there.

00:45After years of unsuccessfully challenging the policy in the Northern Territory courts, a

00:50group of four tenants from Gumbulanya and Laramba today saw the High Court rule the

00:55rule in their favour.

00:56And it could have massive implications for the NT government, which has since collected

01:00almost $20 million under the unlawful scheme.

01:04The rent records that the Territory holds are really in disarray.

01:08They've previously had to wipe off millions in rent debt that couldn't be supported by

01:12the records.

01:14And there really needs to be a wholesale accounting of what's going on with rent in the Northern

01:18Territory.

01:19Opposition leader Selina Yubo said in a statement she respects the High Court's decision

01:24and that tenants would need straightforward advice about what it would mean for them.

01:29Housing Minister Steve Edgington said the government is still considering its options for a valid

01:35scheme, but that tenants are still required to pay their rent in the meantime.

NT Government owing millions after High Court ruling which deemed rental scheme unlawful

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