An historic test case determining the amount of compensation owed for distress caused by the Northern Territory government's neglect of remote rental housing will be heard in the NT Court of Appeal on Thursday, 15 August.
The case is the culmination of a nine-year legal battle by 70 renting households from the remote community of Santa Teresa / Ltyente Apurte, and will have ramifications for all tenants across the Northern Territory.
A High Court victory in November last year recognised that the NT government, as landlord, is liable for the distress and disappointment caused by failing to maintain remote rental housing to basic legal standards. It is now up to the NT Court of Appeal to determine how much the government must pay in damages for the distress caused by its unlawful actions.
The community of Santa Teresa, led by the late Ms Young, late Mr Conway, and Jasmine Cavanagh, fought for years in the pursuit of justice for residents.
In 2015, the community, including families with young children, the elderly and people with chronic health issues, took on the NT Government when it failed to act on a list of 600 urgent repairs. Issues reported in this list include leaking sewage, exposed electrical wiring, structurally unsound buildings, and no running water or ventilation despite desert temperatures in the area regularly hovering above 40 degrees in summer and below zero in winter.
The late Ms Young, whose case is the test case for the community being heard Thursday, was left without a front door for five and a half years, causing her to be exposed to unwanted animals and people entering her home, and constant exposure to the elements, including the desert heat and winds pushing sand into her home. She had to remove snakes that came through the empty doorway and worried about wild horses entering after they had broken down her perimeter fence.
Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights (ALRAR) solicitor Daniel Kelly said the Territory government "spent eight years defending its dire neglect of remote rental homes, before ultimately finding itself on the wrong side of both its basic obligations to communities and the law".
"Now the Court of Appeal will determine what it owes to the community to make up for its failure," he said.
A previous determination in the case determined Ms Young was owed just $4.93 a day for the government's failure to install an external door. Lawyers for Ms Young and the 69 other tenants from Santa Teresa will be arguing it owes the group substantially more for years of harmful and unlawful housing conditions.
Grata Fund executive director Isabelle Reinecke, said the NT government's "appalling neglect" of remote housing has been harming the health and wellbeing of communities for too long.
"(This) hearing is the next step toward righting the wrongs of the past, and ensuring families can have a safe place to call home", said
The High Court's decision last year had nation-wide ramifications, giving tenants across the country a new way to hold landlords accountable for unsafe, unhealthy or uncomfortable housing. Now the NT Court of Appeal will set a benchmark for compensation for tenants in other jurisdictions, should they take forward and win similar cases of housing maintenance neglect.
Representing the tenants in the NT Court of Appeal tomorrow is Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights and barrister, Matthew Albert, at no cost to the community or the tenants. Grata Fund has provided funding and support to the community throughout the legal journey.
NT Minister for Remote Housing and Homelands Selena Uibo told National Indigenous Times that the government respects the decision of the High Court.
"I stress that this legal action predates our Labor government. The chronic failure to deliver safe housing occurred during the chaotic years of CLP rule," she said.
"Since coming into government in 2016, Territory Labor has built an improved 136 homes in Santa Teresa. We have centralised reporting of remote home repairs and made improvements in maintenance. For example, Territory Families, Housing and Communities are currently rolling out a pest control pilot to 33 communities across the Territory to help protect tenants against pests and improve living standards in remote public housing.
"Today Santa Teresa is a much improved community thanks to our remote housing program, which has seen extensive housing works carried out at Santa Teresa, and right across the Territory.
"Our government has taken and continues to take housing seriously. We have done more than any other government, ever, to improve the number and quality of homes, with record partnership investments with the Commonwealth Government of $2.2 billion in 2017 and $4 billion this year for more and improved housing in the next ten years. Under the new $4 billion investment, Santa Teresa will receive 19 new and improved homes in the next two years alone."
The late Ms Young and the late Mr Conway were lead plaintiffs in this matter since the case's inception in 2015. Sadly during this time both passed away without their matters being fully resolved by the courts.
Advocates said on Wednesday that the leadership and commitment to justice of Ms Young and Mr Conway has left "a powerful legacy" for all Australian tenants, and especially for First Nations Peoples living in remote housing across the NT.
"We at ALRAR and Grata Fund are deeply saddened that they were unable to see what their case achieved and we pay our deep respects to their families," the organisations said in a joint statement.
