Queensland council to auction 24 homes, risking homelessness for Indigenous families

Mount Isa City Council intends to auction 24 homes owned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services (ATSICWS) to recover unpaid rates that total almost $1 million over five years. The first ten properties will be listed for sale on Tuesday, after residents were only told in April that the corporation had not paid rates since 2021. Families like Leonie Reading, who has lived in her home for 11 years and is terminally ill, and Kerry Major, who has endured two and a half years without basic services, fear they will be forced out with no alternative accommodation.

ATSICWS was fined $15,000 in August 2025 for corporate compliance breaches. Federal Indigenous affairs minister Malarndirri McCarthy has said the government is consulting with Indigenous Business Australia and Queensland authorities, but a spokesperson confirmed no resolution to halt the auctions. Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has called for the federal government to buy the houses under the Lands Acquisitions Act, arguing the cost would be far less than the social fallout.