{"id":421787,"date":"2026-01-18T19:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/421787\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:38:22","slug":"plans-for-kununurra-aboriginal-short-stay-accommodation-abandoned-despite-dire-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/421787\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans for Kununurra Aboriginal short stay accommodation abandoned despite dire need"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Waina sits on the pavement, a debit card and a scrunched-up letter in her hand, waiting for the bank to open.<\/p>\n

She has travelled more than 500 kilometres from her hometown of Kalumburu, Western Australia’s northernmost settlement, to Kununurra, the East Kimberley’s main regional hub.<\/p>\n

\"old<\/p>\n

Remote residents like Elizabeth Waina travel to Kununurra to access services including banking.\u00a0 (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

Ms Waina is one of many residents of remote Aboriginal communities who make similar trips into town each year to access services.<\/p>\n

Without suitable accommodation, many end up sleeping rough or staying with relatives in overcrowded houses.<\/p>\n

Plans abandoned<\/p>\n

The WA government had previously pledged $20 million to provide short-stay accommodation for residents of outlying communities travelling into Kununurra.<\/p>\n

But the Cook government has since dumped the project, citing land limitations and a lack of suitable existing facilities.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Aboriginal short stay accommodation facilities, like this one in Derby, have been built across the state. (ABC News: Natalie Jones)<\/p>\n

Housing and Works Minister John Carey said the funds had been reallocated to social housing in Kununurra and Wyndham, and would help deliver 32 homes over the next two years.<\/p>\n

“I acknowledge there will be many people in the community disappointed by the decision to reallocate funding for the project,” Mr Carey said.<\/p>\n

“But our government is ensuring every dollar will be spent in the Kununurra and Wyndham communities.”<\/p>\n

Exposed to risks<\/p>\n

Chermaine Dodd travelled to Kununurra from the Northern Territory for family reasons, but her stay has had its challenges.<\/p>\n

“I’m struggling, I’m homeless, and I need somewhere to stay,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Dodd said an Aboriginal short-stay facility would help her and other visitors.<\/p>\n

“I would feel safe as long as they provide us with a bed, with food, and as long as we do the right thing,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Aboriginal<\/p>\n

Chermaine Dodd says overcrowding can create tension between family members.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

Ms Dodd said many visitors from remote communities ended up staying with relatives, even if they do not have room to accommodate them.<\/p>\n

“It’s overcrowded. It creates a bit of tension and family disputes, arguing,” she said.<\/p>\n

Edreena Unghango is visiting Kununurra from Kalumburu and staying with a relative.<\/p>\n

But she said overcrowding was a real issue for some family and friends who had “somebody else sleeping on their bed, taking up their space” and resorted to going to the sober-up shelter.<\/p>\n

\"Aboriginal<\/p>\n

Edreena Unghango says many people from remote communities have no choice but sleeping rough when visiting. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

While she has a bed in a safe home, Ms Unghango said she was worried for her younger relatives who slept rough when in town to access services or attend funerals.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes you see families on the streets with babies,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I feel unsafe for my siblings, my baby sister, my baby brother. I like to ring up over time to make sure they are OK.”‘Sorely needed’<\/p>\n

Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley chief executive officer Vernon Lawrence said they would keep advocating for the facility to be built.<\/p>\n

He said while there was a need for more social housing in Kununurra, an Aboriginal short stay was “sorely needed”, with a lack of temporary accommodation exacerbating the town’s social issues.<\/p>\n

\"middle-aged<\/p>\n

Vernon Lawrence said a short stay accommodation facility in Kununurra was “sorely needed”. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)<\/p>\n

“Going through the COVID years and the increase in construction costs, there’s no way a facility like that could be built for $20 million at this point,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s an obvious, partial solution that can be implemented that hasn’t been implemented.”<\/p>\n

Mr Lawrence said he hoped the government would ultimately find long-term funding to revive the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Waina sits on the pavement, a debit card and a scrunched-up letter in her hand, waiting for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[132728,43,22561,221984,221985,24514,37626,221983,44,70922,41,39,42,40,45],"class_list":["post-421787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accomodation","tag-headlines","tag-kimberley","tag-kimberley-homelessness","tag-kimberley-housing","tag-kimberley-news","tag-kununurra","tag-kununurra-accomodation","tag-news","tag-short-stay","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}