Mount Isa city council is auctioning off 24 homes to recover almost $1m in unpaid rates, a move that could force 15 First Nations families into homelessness. The first 10 houses go under the hammer on Tuesday, with residents saying they were not informed about the debt until five months ago.
The properties are owned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services (ATSICWS), a not-for-profit organisation that has accrued the debt over five years. The council initially planned to auction all 24 properties from 1 July, including 15 occupied by Aboriginal families.
Residents say they were left in the dark
Leonie Reading, whose husband is a traditional owner of the north-west Queensland region, has lived in her home with three children for the past 11 years. She said she was only told in April that ATSICWS had not paid rates to the council since 2021. Reading, who is terminally ill, told Guardian Australia she will be "forced out" with "nowhere to go" when her home is sold.
"The whole situation is not good … it's quite dire," she said. "We're at the pointy end where if anyone is gonna do anything, they need to pull a rabbit out of their hats now. I've contacted everyone. I contacted the minister, our local MP's office, and another minister but they passed the buck to the housing minister. I haven't heard a thing back from anyone."
Homes in disrepair as maintenance stopped
Kerry Major is also facing eviction. She said she had not paid rent in the past two and a half years because ATSICWS stopped undertaking maintenance on her home. Major said the auctions would leave many in the Indigenous community homeless.
"I had no hot water and I told the director of the organisation that I had no hot water," she said. "The house was falling apart and I've been without water for two and a half years, and I've been without a stove for two and a half years. All the houses that we're living in … they're all run down. One house has to be demolished because there's no way anybody can fix it."
Major said most of the residents facing eviction had yet to find alternative accommodation and securing private rentals in the city town was "near impossible". She added: "We're not only looking at these 20 families but our mob are all connected. I don't only have the people that live in my house here all the time, I've got a lot of other families who come through."
Government responses and calls for action
In August 2025, ATSICWS was fined $15,000 after being convicted of 12 breaches of the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006, namely failing to lodge annual reports with the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations. The director of ATSICWS declined to comment when contacted by Guardian Australia.
In June, the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, told parliament the government was "working on this on several levels", which included approaching Indigenous Business Australia to help the families, and contacting the Queensland government and Mount Isa council to find a resolution. However, on Monday, a spokesperson from McCarthy's office said she had travelled to Mount Isa late last week but told residents the "commonwealth has been unable to find a resolution to stop the auctions from going ahead".
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe has called on the federal government to buy the homes at auction under the Lands Acquisitions Act 1989. Thorpe said the federal government had been aware of the unpaid rates for a number of years but had done nothing about it. "It's all on the federal government, it's all on minister McCarthy and the prime minister for not bailing out these 15 homes, these 15 families," she said. "For $600,000, they could have ensured families stayed in their homes."
A spokesperson for Queensland's Department of Housing and Public Works said it had not been "approached by ATSICWS or the Mount Isa City Council to acquire the properties listed for auction". They said the department was working with local service providers to help tenants facing eviction. "The Queensland government's priority continues to be supporting impacted tenants and the Mount Isa Housing Service Centre is working with individuals and families who reach out for housing support," they said.
