Home ownership scheme starts on Palm Island as Rent-to-Buy applications open

• New Rent-to-Buy Scheme opens for applications on Palm Island.
• Crisafulli Government delivering on promise to unlock home ownership for Palm Island residents.
• First-of-its-kind scheme designed in partnership with Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council allows social housing tenants to buy the home they live in.
• The Crisafulli Government is delivering practical support for home ownership as part of its plan to deliver a place to call home for more Queenslanders.

The Crisafulli Government has delivered a new pathway to home ownership on Palm Island with the first families set to sign on to a landmark Rent-to-Buy scheme.

Unlocking home ownership for Palm Island residents was a key election commitment of the Crisafulli Government, following feedback from the local community.

The home ownership initiative is part of the Crisafulli Government’s commitment to deliver a place to call home for more Queenslanders with the Securing Our Housing Foundations plan.

The Palm Island Rent-to-Buy Home Ownership Scheme enables residents to buy their social home by entering an agreement with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council.

When the payment plan is complete, ownership is transferred to the participant through a 99-year home ownership lease.

After Labor’s decade of decline Queensland’s home ownership rate was the lowest in the nation at 64 per cent, and this figure drops to only 38 per cent for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households and sits at just 5.3 per cent in remote and discrete communities.

Only 1.4 per cent of Palm Island residents own their own home, highlighting the desperate need for housing solutions like the new Palm Island Home Ownership Scheme.

The scheme will start with an initial 10 households, with the potential to expand and based on demand up to 300 Council-owned social homes available for residents to buy in the coming years.

It will be administered by the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council, in its capacity as Trustee, with support from the Crisafulli Government locked in through the 2026-27 Budget.

The scheme is designed to overcome barriers to home ownership in remote and discrete communities, including high costs and difficulties accessing loans.

The NAIDOC Week milestone scheme opening comes after extensive community consultation, with work also underway to unlock new home ownership pathways in other remote Indigenous communities.

Minister for Housing Sam O’Connor said the Crisafulli Government was working with local leaders to make home ownership a reality for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

“This is a life-changing opportunity for the Queenslanders on Palm Island who have wanted to have the same ability as everyone else to own their own home,” Minister O’Connor said.

“Right now, just 1.4 per cent of residents on Palm Island own their own home, far below the State’s overall home ownership rate of 64 per cent, which is why a new, practical way of doing things was desperately needed.

“We’ve worked closely with the Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council and the community to understand their needs and deliver a model designed to help locals achieve their home ownership aspirations.”

Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Fiona Simpson said the Palm Island community has put in the hard work to achieve great outcomes.

“The Crisafulli Government recognises that home ownership is a path to self-determination and economic empowerment for our First Peoples,” Minister Simpson said.

“Home ownership has been disproportionately difficult to do in our Indigenous communities, but this announcement clearly demonstrates the work we are doing to address this, because all Queenslanders have a right to a pathway to home ownership.”

Member for Townsville Adam Baillie MP said the launch of the Rent-to-Buy Scheme was another example of the Crisafulli Government listening to the community, with feedback shaping real outcomes.

“Every Queenslander should have the opportunity to own their own home, and for years that pathway has not been available to residents on Palm Island but that changes today,” Mr Baillie said.

“Owning your own home is the great Australian dream, and it is exciting to be on Palm Island today sharing how residents can turn that dream into reality.”

Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey said this was history in the making for the community, because home ownership has been so out of reach.

“The Home Ownership Scheme provides a new opportunity to own a home and at the same time, wealth creation for the next generation of our people,” Mayor Lacey said.

“I’d like to express, on behalf of our community, to the Crisafulli Government, this is not a hand up or a handout, it’s better. This government has proven that it can walk side by side with us to create meaningful opportunities for our people and I didn’t think I’d see this in my lifetime.”