Why traditional owners are struggling to survive in this Torres Strait Islands 'paradise'

Indigenous families are being forced to leave their archipelago homes amid the soaring cost of living and lack of housing.

Joseph Passi and partner Ayesha with their children at the donga they rent in the Torres Strait. Source: AAP / Aaron Bunch

Key Points

• The housing problem is worst on tiny Thursday Island.
• Several traditional owners, including Joseph Passi, saying they have been on waiting lists for more than a decade.

The Torres Strait Islands are like a tropical paradise to outsiders but for many traditional owners, it has more in common with a failed state as they struggle to survive amid the soaring cost of living.

Indigenous families are being forced to leave their archipelago homes in Queensland's north because of a lack of affordable housing and "extortionate" food prices that are impacting physical and mental health.

"This region has a high dependence on social security, yet the cost of living is way beyond what you see in mainland urban areas," Aleita Twist, chief executive of Mura Kosker Sorority social service group, told AAP.

Food items more expensive than mainland prices

"With large families and overcrowded housing, or poor access to housing, it's not a happy environment for people to continue to be able to stay in the region."

Public housing is also in short supply, with several traditional owners saying they have been on waiting lists for more than a decade. Source: AAP / Aaron Bunch

Basic supermarket items, which are often far from fresh by the time they hit the shelves, such as fruit and vegetables, milk and eggs, are about 20 to 40 per cent more expensive than average mainland prices.

Shoppers also pay considerably more for electrical goods, furniture and luxury food, such as savoury and sweet snacks, and fuel is about 25 per cent more expensive.

"We're paying $7 for a loaf of bread. You can get one for $2 in Cairns. That's the staple food that fills kid's bellies but if you have five kids and you need two loaves a day for lunches it's not sustainable," Ms Twist said.

"We know it's expensive down south too but up here we haven't got a choice, we have to take what is given to us because the suppliers operate in a near monopoly."

The housing problem is worst on tiny Thursday Island, the region's administrative centre. Source: AAP / Aaron Bunch

The housing problem is worst on tiny Thursday Island, the region's administrative centre, where dozens of state and federal government departments employing "expatriate" mainland workers are outbidding locals trying to buy and rent properties.

"Government swoops in and they pay whatever price is necessary and locals just can't afford it," Ms Twist said.

"An example is $1,800 per week for a three-bedroom house, only government can afford that."

Public housing is also in short supply, with several traditional owners, including Joseph Passi, saying they have been on waiting lists for more than a decade.

"I applied when I turned 18 and I'm still waiting," Mr Passi, 33, said.

The council pool manager lives in a tiny three-room donga next to the shire depot with his partner and three children.

Residents said the ferry, and fuel prices are a "real stress" too. Source: AAP / Aaron Bunch

As tough as it is, Mr Passi said it was a step up from the previous seven years when the family was homeless and lived in overcrowded houses with relatives or in hostels.

"The whole system is messed up, it's a struggle within a struggle," he said of the islands' housing market.

"People are getting forced down south, Cairns, Townsville, wherever."

Motel housekeeper Johanna Sabatino-Garnier, 28, lives in temporary accommodation on neighbouring Hammond Island with her two sons and catches a ferry to and from Thursday Island for work.

"It's pretty tough and a struggle as a single parent," she said.

"The ferry, fuel prices are going up now so we fish and buy the cheaper brands to help us get through, but the drag week before I get paid can be a real stress."

Torres Strait Regional Authority chair Napau Pedro Stephen said a two-tier economy had been created by the remote area allowances paid to attract skilled workers to the region.

"It's lopsided with haves and have-nots," he said.

He likened the situation to the pearl boom in the late-1800s when outsiders exploited the region but shared little of the profit with traditional owners.

"Everybody who has benefited from the cream here, they are not from here," he said.