• Palaszczuk Labor once again handing in the LNP’s homework – this time claiming credit for LNP laws to afford indigenous Queenslanders the opportunity to own their own homes

• After 30 years of Labor inaction, 2013 and 2014 laws introduced by the LNP led to this week’s leasehold announcement

• How long will it take Labor to action LNP laws offering indigenous Queenslanders freehold?

Several hundred indigenous Queenslanders will now have the opportunity to own their own homes after three decades of inactivity under Labor, thanks to 2013 reforms introduced by the LNP that have finally been progressed by the Palaszczuk Government.

Shadow Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps said the 2013 legislation passed by the former LNP Government rectified a number of problems that had prevented indigenous people from obtaining perpetual leases in several remote communities.

Mr Cripps, who was the responsible Minister in 2013, said poorly drafted legislation from the 1980’s had resulted in a number of complex tenure issues and confusion about who was eligible to be granted a lease, leading to a three decade delay in home ownership.

“The need for these reforms was ignored by the Goss, Beattie and Bligh Labor Government’s, but the LNP was determined to progress the long overdue goal of indigenous home ownership and resolving the so-called ‘Katter leases’ was the first step,” Mr Cripps said.

“The Palaszczuk Government is now once again handing in the LNP’s homework and dressing it up as its own – it’s a shame that it’s taken Labor two and a half years to get there, but then again the Goss, Beattie and Bligh administrations ignored this issue too.”

Mr Cripps said he was also frustrated by the lack of progress the Palaszczuk Labor Government had made to give indigenous Queenslanders the opportunity to own their own homes in freehold, as a result of additional reforms championed by the LNP in 2014.

“That legislation was an historic milestone for indigenous people – the opportunity to own their own home, in freehold, in their own community – through a mechanism that put decision making about future tenure arrangements in the hands of the local community”.

“As the responsible Minister in the former LNP Government who also delivered these reforms, I’ve been disappointed to see the lack of progress being made by Labor to give indigenous Queenslanders the opportunity to access this important initiative.”

Mr Cripps said the Mayor of the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire, Cr Alf Lacey, had recently called on the Palaszczuk Government to give his local community an opportunity to access the freeholding mechanisms to give economic confidence a boost in his local community.