Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner

1,000 Tradies To Benefit From Public Housing Stimulus Program

Victor P Taffa

First projects under the Northern Territory Government’s $100 Million Public Housing Stimulus Program have been awarded, with 1 job already completed.

“Creating jobs is the Territory Government’s number one priority and we will continue to invest in programs that stimulate our economy.” Chief Minister Michael Gunner said.

Stimulus program, announced in November 2018, will see major and minor upgrades to urban public housing properties, delivering much-needed work to registered contractors across the Territory.

Stimulus is designed to roll out over the next 18 months, with an easy-to-register system for contractors, to ensure all small businesses have an opportunity to undertake the work and that the work can be allocated quickly.

“Spending $100 Million on upgrades to public housing is a good investment by the taxpayer, no doubt welcomed by tenants and a very positive start to 2019 for hundreds of small firms planning on doing this work.” Master Builders NT Chief Executive Dave Malone said.

$60 Million of work has already been identified, and it is expected around $35 Million of work will go to tender over the next 6 months. Works will include construction, plumbing, electrical, painting, roofing, fencing and security installations.

It will be a huge boost for jobs and small businesses as well as a valuable investment in public housing stock.

MWK Constructions a small business with 3 employees installed a concrete driveway at a public housing home in Wanguri and is registered to receive even more work through the program.

“This Stimulus is a win-win for everyone. There’s not a huge amount of work around at the moment so this will be a big help for small businesses like mine who will be able to keep employees in work.” Trevor Miller from MWK Constructions said.

Last year, a previous stimulus worth $69 Million generated work for more than 220 Territory contractors at around 3,000 public housing properties and resulted in more than 250 vacant properties returned to public housing stock.