First Nations Families Face Eviction Over Unpaid Rates

Mount Isa City Council in Queensland, Australia, has begun auctioning off properties to recover roughly $1.2 million in unpaid municipal rates from a local welfare organisation. The forced sales threaten to evict at least 15 First Nations families from their homes, raising urgent concerns about homelessness in a rural region where replacement housing is extremely scarce.

Auctions and Cumulative Debts

The council scheduled 24 properties for auction after the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services accrued over $1 million in unpaid rates over three years. Under Queensland state law, local councils hold the legal authority to sell land when municipal rates or service charges remain unpaid for three years or longer. On Tuesday, the council sold the first batch of 10 properties at auction, generating a total of $1.13 million. Not all of the properties sold on Tuesday belonged to the welfare organisation.

According to a council spokesperson, local officials made repeated attempts over a three-year period to contact the board of the welfare corporation through letters, emails, text messages, and phone calls. The council spokesperson stated that the board collected rent from tenants without paying municipal charges for rates, water supply, or waste collection. The director of the corporation declined to comment on the debt, though public records show the organisation was fined $15,000 in August 2025 for 12 breaches of corporate regulations related to unfiled annual reports.

Tenant Experiences and Living Conditions

Affected residents reported that they were left unaware of the mounting debt until five months ago. Leonie Reading, a terminally ill resident whose husband is a traditional owner in the region, said she was only notified in April despite residing in her home for 11 years. Reading explained that she reached out to multiple government ministers and local representatives, but her inquiries were redirected to state housing officials without stopping the sales process.

Another resident facing eviction, Kerry Major, said tenants had suffered long-term neglect regarding property maintenance. Major stated that she stopped paying rent two and a half years ago after being left without hot water or a working stove for that entire period. She described the housing stock as severely deteriorated, noting that at least one property requires complete demolition, and added that securing alternative private rentals in Mount Isa is virtually impossible.

Political Responses and Next Steps

The impending evictions have drawn scrutiny at both state and federal levels. A spokesperson for Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy confirmed that while the minister met with residents, federal authorities could not find a legal avenue to halt the auctions. Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe criticized the government response, arguing that federal authorities could have purchased the homes under national land acquisition laws for an estimated $600,000 to prevent the displacements.

A spokesperson for Queensland’s Department of Housing and Public Works said state officials were not approached by either the welfare corporation or the city council to purchase the properties prior to auction. The department stated that its regional housing service centre is providing support services to affected residents seeking alternative accommodation.

Background

In Queensland, local government councils are empowered under state legislation to sell land or real estate to recover outstanding debts if municipal rates remain unpaid for three years or more. Non-profit housing corporations managing Indigenous community housing often operate under specific federal regulatory frameworks governed by the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations.