Terminally ill grandmother to lose home after auctions as housing group fails

Terminally ill and mostly housebound, Leonie Reading has spent the past 11 years in the same Mount Isa house, expecting to leave her home "in a coffin".

But since her home was sold at auction in September after the collapse of the Indigenous housing corporation that owned the property, she has been spending precious time finding somewhere else to live.

"It's just pushed me way past my coping point and this last few months have taken its toll on me and my body," she said.

"[Following the auctions] I get a message, 'I'll be there 10 o'clock in the morning to take measurements.' It's a nightmare.

"I've told everyone … I'm critically ill and terminal … the day I leave here is in my coffin."

'Extraordinary steps'

In September, Mount Isa City Council auctioned 25 properties owned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Welfare Services (ATSICfWS) after the organisation accrued more than $1 million in unpaid council rates over five years.

All 25 properties reached their reserve prices, with sales, including from an additional eight unrelated properties, totalling $4.95 million.

To protect the auction proceeds, the national regulator, the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC), has taken "extraordinary steps" in the Federal Court

"The Registrar has taken the extraordinary steps of appointing special administrators before being granted orders to wind up the corporation to ensure the corporation's assets are intact and available to satisfy any remaining, but not yet known, debt of the corporation," an ORIC spokesperson said.

"The Registrar is of the view that to allow the corporation to benefit from any residual funds would be unjust."

"The situation of ATSICfWS has been the result of corporation members and directors abandoning their ownership, rights and obligations concerning the corporation."

Since 2019, ATSICfWS has not held the required general meetings or lodged annual reports with ORIC.

Late last month, ORIC investigators met with some of the 50 affected residents and at least one director.

It confirmed its own investigation into the organisation was underway.

A spokesperson for the Minister for Indigenous Australians would not address questions raised around oversight reform but said the government was working with residents.

"The NIAA will continue to work with relevant stakeholders to support affected tenants.

The ABC has made multiple attempts to get comment from ATSICfWS and its directors, but they were not contactable.

'Too late for us'

With two months left on her tenancy, Ms Reading said an investigation was "too late" for her family.

"Even to this day, I am trying to get my head around it all," she said.

"It's too late for us, but I hope it never, ever happens again."

As the new owners take stock of their purchases, Ms Reading struggled to understand how the situation had come to this but hoped change would follow.

"[I'd like to see] more accountability, more honesty," she said.

"People have to put their hand up and take ownership of the problem."

The first directions hearing in the Federal Court is set for October 23.