Why this project exists
Derby faces a housing crisis that is structural, documented and preventable. Thirty per cent of Aboriginal households in the Kimberley are overcrowded. One in six children carry the infection that causes Rheumatic Heart Disease. These numbers are not inevitable.
The evidence
ABS 2021 Census data shows 30 per cent of Aboriginal households in the Kimberley were overcrowded — three times the national average. Overcrowding undermines health, education, employment and social stability. It's not a new problem. It's a neglected one.
In August 2024, Slater & Gordon launched a Federal Court class action on behalf of thousands of remote WA Aboriginal tenants — unsafe water, poor insulation, structural damage, chronic repair failures.
The National Climate Risk Assessment (September 2025) confirmed what Derby residents already know: public housing in the Kimberley is not built for the heat, floods and cyclones the region now faces — let alone what's coming by 2050. Homes become sweat boxes in the wet season.
Climate-adapted housing — ventilation, insulation, shade, affordable cooling — isn't a luxury. It's a basic requirement that current stock doesn't meet.
One in six Derby children carry Strep A right now. Rheumatic Heart Disease is almost entirely absent from non-Indigenous Australia. It is a disease of overcrowding and inadequate housing.
The health case
Strep A thrives in overcrowded, poorly ventilated households. Repeated infection causes Acute Rheumatic Fever. Recurrent ARF causes Rheumatic Heart Disease — permanent cardiac damage in children. Affected children need penicillin injections every three to four weeks, sometimes for life.
RHD barely exists in non-Indigenous Australia. It is not a genetic condition. It is a housing condition.
When children leave the clinic, they go back to the same overcrowded homes where they got infected. KINRA changes those homes. Adequate space, working ventilation, clean water, functioning sanitation — that's what prevents Strep A transmission. Prevention built into every dwelling, for the life of the precinct.
The Mindaroo connection
Mindaroo Foundation is investing in early childhood health in Derby on a site directly adjacent to the KINRA precinct. Their work addresses the children who have RHD. Our work prevents the conditions that cause it. Two investments. One system.
The economic case
Indigenous workforce participation in the Kimberley sits at 37.3 per cent against a non-Indigenous rate of 82.5 per cent. Employment creation is the central economic challenge. KINRA addresses it directly through Local Resource-Based construction and enterprise development.
More than one in three Indigenous renting households nationwide spend over 30 per cent of gross income on rent. Housing stress and economic exclusion reinforce each other. KINRA breaks that cycle through ownership, employment and enterprise — not welfare.
A review of 100 studies across eight countries found consistent improvements when people moved from housing insecurity into stable homes — health, wellbeing, mortality, employment and service use all improved. The investment case is solid.
Government alignment
KINRA aligns directly with Federal and WA Government housing priorities. There is substantial capital available through existing programs for a project like this.
$10B Housing Australia Future Fund · National Housing Accord · Indigenous Advancement Strategy · ARENA and CEFC for renewable energy · Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) · Indigenous Business Australia home ownership
$350M Remote Communities Fund (Kimberley, Pilbara, Goldfields) · $200M North-West Aboriginal Housing Fund · 10-year homelessness strategy · Development WA investment facilitation · Keystart home loans